• England v India, 1st One-Day International

Pietersen: Too many Test batters in ODI team

ESPN staff
August 25, 2014
Kevin Pietersen is excited by the inclusion on Alex Hales into England's one-day side © Getty Images
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Kevin Pietersen believes England are selecting too many players for one-day internationals who are more suited to Test cricket and cannot win next year's World Cup without a change in philosophy.

The former England batsman believes the current selection policy puts too much pressure on the lower-order batsman to perform, resulting in disappointing totals, with Alastair Cook one of those cited by Pietersen.

In his column for the Daily Telegraph, Pietersen wrote: "In one-day cricket you have to strike the ball with positive intent. In my opinion from Joe Root, Cook, Ian Bell and Gary Ballance, there is only room for two of those players in the side not four.

Swann: England have no chance

  • Graeme Swann has played down England's chances of winning the 2015 World Cup and described Ravi Bopara's omission from the one-day squad against India as "absolutely crazy".
  • The former England spinner believes England would be better off selecting younger players, citing James Vince, James Taylor and Jason Roy as potential starters.
  • "I am the greatest patriot there is but we do not have a cat-in-hell's chance," Swann told BBC Test Match special.
  • "I see Jos Buttler, Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales as World Cup winners, I am not sure the rest of the players are going to be alongside them and win it."

"It puts an awful lot of pressure on guys like Eoin Morgan and [Jos] Buttler to come off. If they do not, then England make scores of 250-280 and it is curtains."

England secured a narrow 2-1 series win against the West Indies in March although, defeats to Australia and Sri Lanka has seen them slip to fifth in the ICC ODI rankings.

While Pietersen praised the inclusion of Alex Hales into the one-day squad against India, he believes Surrey team-mate Jason Roy should also have been selected.

"It is great Alex Hales has been added to the squad but I hope he does not put too much pressure on himself, or feel forced by those around him, to hit out from ball one," added Pietersen.

"England could do with one more player like him in the top four who hits the ball and I would love to see Jason Roy in the team. He has had a fantastic summer. He has shots all around the wicket and is a lot more consistent now."

Although Pietersen admits he was not surprised to see Roy left out of the squad, he was "flabbergasted" to see the omission of all-rounder Ravi Bopara.

"He has been their key all-rounder in one-day cricket for the past year, a very talented batsman who has turned himself into a useful wicket-taking bowler," added PIetersen.

"He is very popular in the dressing room and an experienced player too so why has he drawn the short straw and been left out? I would love to know the cricketing reasons behind that decision."

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