Cricket

Pietersen's wife comes out fighting on his behalf

ESPN staff

February 5, 2014

Alec Stewart is disappointed with the decision

Reports of a bust-up between Kevin Pietersen and England captain Alastair Cook have been strenuously denied by Pietersen's wife.

Jessica Taylor used Twitter to pour scorn on suggestions made by former England bowler Dominic Cork that Pietersen and Cook were involved in a confrontation in the pavilion during the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney.

In an interview with Sky Sports News, Cork had stated: "What I'm hearing is there was an altercation between himself [Pietersen] and Alastair Cook. Cook was one of his friends and wanted him back in when his reintegration happened.

"When you put yourself out there as captain and an altercation happens - I heard there was nearly a dust-up, a fight in the Sydney Pavilion - you can't do that to a captain."

However, Taylor furiously denied any such bust-up had occurred and stated there was no "squaring up" between the pair.

Dominic Cork - there was no 'squaring up' to Alastair Cook or 'off-field antics' in Australia - you are lying,plain & simple.— Jessica Taylor (@JessicaLibertyX) February 5, 2014

Regurgitating rumour & spinning it as fact is not what I'd call responsible journalism. The public deserve so much better - the truth.— Jessica Taylor (@JessicaLibertyX) February 5, 2014

On Tuesday, the ECB decided not to consider Pietersen for selection for the forthcoming tour of the Caribbean and World Twenty20 - leaving him out of an England squad a year after his "reintegration" into the team during the tour of India.

The decision came shortly after England's miserable tour of Australia, where Cook's side were whitewashed in the Ashes series and lost both of the following one-day international and Twenty20 series.