England look for Pietersen cover

England's selectors are considering their options after Kevin Pietersen was ruled out of the rest of the tour to Australia with a fractured rib.

He was hit by a ball from Glenn McGrath during Friday's game in Melbourne and will be out for three to five weeks.

"I've never been hit so hard - I couldn't breathe for a couple of minutes," he said.

Vikram Solanki, Rob Key, Mal Loye, Alastair Cook and Ravi Bopara are among the potential replacements.
But they will face a huge task to replace a batsman who top scored with 82 at the MCG and prior to the game had a one-day average of 55 and a strike rate of 95 per 100 balls.

Pietersen was 73 not out when he sustained the injury after advancing down the pitch to try to pull the ball away on the leg-side.

He immediately clutched his right side in agony and, although he continued his innings several minutes later following treatment by physio Dean Conway, he was quickly despatched to hospital following his dismissal, where a scan confirmed the fracture.
"I have been hit quite a few times in my career and I thought I would be OK with a bit of ice.

"When it hit me I couldn't breathe for a couple of minutes but I knew it was a bit more serious than previous times.

"It restricted my breathing and it restricted my strokeplay which was frustrating because I wanted to get a hundred," said Pietersen.

"I'm really down at the moment to be leaving Australia without a victory under our belt. Every single one of the guys is hurting but they will come out fighting."


The prognosis for Pietersen's recovery means he should be fit in time for the World Cup, which begins in the Caribbean on 13 March.

"I'll go home and get my fitness back as fast as I can and come back stronger for the bigger picture, which is the World Cup," he added.

England now need to call up a replacement but when asked who he thought it should be, Pietersen replied: "I'm no selector. I'm just distraught to be going home."