Ashes 2015: Australia bowlers stunned by Kevin Pietersen’s England exile

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/may/13/australia-bowlers-stunned-by-kevin-pietersen-exile

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Kevin Pietersen’s excommunication from the England cricket team has been met with a mixture of shock, bemusement and relief in the Australia camp with the 2015 Ashes series looming large on the horizon.

Pietersen was told in a meeting with the new director of English cricket, Andrew Strauss, and ECB chief executive Tom Harrison on Monday evening that he did not feature in plans for the home summer featuring a five-Test Ashes series, with a “massive issue of trust” identified as central to the decision.

The news was confirmed by Strauss on Tuesday, with an “absolutely devastated” Pietersen having his say publicly in a column for the Daily Telegraph, in which he wrote of the “incredibly deceitful” way the ECB had acted.

With less than two months to go before the start of the first Ashes Test in Cardiff, the news was welcomed by Australian fast bowler Ryan Harris, who said he would be happy not to have to come face-to-face with the South Africa-born batsman.

“Of course, absolutely; he’s a bloody good player and one of the hardest to bowl to, I find,” Harris told Cricket Australia’s website. “In saying that, when you play sides like England you want the best players playing – especially when we beat them, you want to beat the best team.”

Harris, who will miss Australia’s upcoming tour of the West Indies for the birth of his first child before joining up with the squad for the tour of the UK, was not entirely convinced the controversial decision taken by Strauss would be definitive though, given that Pietersen, who scored a career-best 355 not out against Leicestershire on the same day his axing was confirmed, is in such excellent form.

“I know that Strauss and him probably don’t get on, [but] I’m not going to believe it until we get over there and they pick their squad,” Harris said. “If he keeps going on and playing for Surrey, he may quit now, but if he keeps going and scoring hundred after hundred there’s going to be a lot of pressure to pick him. Although it has been said by the new cricket director, I’m not going to believe it until we play five Tests and Kevin Pietersen doesn’t play.”

Another Australian quick, Peter Siddle, pointed to Pietersen’s trademark self belief as he expressed relief at his absence this English summer. Siddle, currently in the UK playing for Lancashire, is one of few players to have enjoyed success against Pietersen – he has dismissed him more than any other player in Test cricket – but still will be glad to see the back of him.

“You can’t find someone to replace him,” Siddle said. “I think those players are once in a lifetime, with their confidence and aggression. You can never replace them and that’s what people have to come terms with. Players like that don’t grow on trees.

“It’s like trying to find someone to replace Shane Warne. If you have the second best spinner in the world they’re still not going to be good enough. A bloke that averages 50 in Test cricket I’m happy enough to have out the side. Get somebody in who averages less. I’m happy to see him gone.”

Meanwhile, World Cup star Glenn Maxwell, who missed out on the cut for Australia’s touring squad, expressed surprise and anger in two posts on Twitter, labelling the treatment of his Melbourne Stars team-mate a “stitch up”.

"He needs to play county cricket to be available for selection" (misses IPL to play county, makes 355no) "sorry, too many trust issues" ...

That is what you call a proper stitch up! Now @KP24 is on his way here to continue his form in India. Hope he smacks them everywhere! #class