Australian cricket coach John Buchanan has questioned whether South African-born England batsman Kevin Pietersen is a team player, saying he seems "distanced" from the rest of the team.
Buchanan was speaking after England crashed to defeat inside three days at the MCG yesterday, with Pietersen making just 1 in the second innings after being promoted to number four in the order.
England coach Duncan Fletcher has confirmed that Pietersen had been asked to make the move up the order at the start of the tour but was reluctant to make the move.
Buchanan said Pietersen was one of England's key strike players but said he always seemed to be removed from his team-mates on the field.
"That might be because that's where England want him to field, they want him to field out on the boundary, but he's a good fieldsman," he said.
"Somebody that's good around the ring - it surprises me that he always seems to be distanced from the rest of the group."
Pietersen has also been criticised for taking singles to rotate the strike when batting with tailenders at the end of the innings.
"[Pietersen] certainly talks about himself as a team player - I don't personally see any evidence of that, but that's from a distance," Buchanan said.
"I'm not in their dressing rooms and he could be one of the greatest team men of all time."
No comments:
Post a Comment