Aussie quick in disbelief over KP decision

Veteran paceman Ryan Harris says until the teams are actually named he won’t believe England will go into this year’s Ashes series without their leading run-scorer across all formats, Kevin Pietersen.

Pietersen made a record-breaking 326 not out for Surrey in Division Two of the County Championship yesterday, yet the England and Wales Cricket Board’s newly-appointed Director of Cricket Andrew Strauss has reportedly already told his former teammate that he will not be a part of the national side’s future.

NEW Update: Triple-centurion KP has England dreams dashed

But Harris, who will miss the West Indies tour due to the birth of his first child and be at peak fitness for the Ashes, is not convinced England would be willing to go into Test cricket’s most famous series without a match-winner such as Pietersen, regardless of his chequered history with Strauss and several members of the current playing squad.

“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 told cricket.com.au.

“He’s just peeled off a triple-hundred.

“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.

“If he keeps scoring runs the way he is it’s going to be very hard not to pick him.”

Pietersen, 34, will head to India to join Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL if the David Warner-led side qualifies for the finals, which begin on May 19.

They are currently in fourth place, and have two matches to play. 

Image Id: ~/media/E3D943EF79D34D53AA781EA80CDD2536Kevin Pietersen on his way to 326* // Getty Images 

Regardless of which competition Pietersen plays in between now and the Ashes, which begins in Cardiff on July 8, Harris insisted that from his perspective, he would prefer the right-hander wasn’t playing.

“Of course, absolutely; he’s a bloody good player and one of the hardest to bowl to, I find,” he said. “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.”

Pietersen and Strauss infamously fell out in 2012, during the latter’s time in charge of the national side, when it emerged that Pietersen had sent a text message to a South African counterpart in which he abused his captain.

Last year, Strauss was heard on a television microphone calling Pietersen “an absolute c---”, while Pietersen’s autobiography, KP, also paints many of his current teammates in a bad light.

“The culture in the team is very important,” Harris added. “It showed, by the sounds of it, last time they were (in Australia) – they didn’t have a great team harmony and the result spoke for itself.

“The fact that he released a book and bagged everyone in the team isn’t great. It was going to be tough for him to get back in.

“The fact that he’s a pretty honest person and he wrote that in his book and the players that he wrote about are still playing – a majority of them – it would have been tough (to accept him back in the side).

“I know our team, we’ve had really good team harmony the last four or five years and the culture in the team is really good and our results probably speak for themselves.

“(Team culture) is very important, and he might not fit into that and it’s why someone’s made a decision to not put him back in there.” 

Harris isn’t the only Australian player who has pondered taking on England minus Pietersen, who debuted against Australia in 2005 and has since plundered 2,158 Test runs against the old enemy at 44.95 with a highest score of 227.

Image Id: ~/media/D4F360FE627D4DF19F67358565F437C1Pietersen celebrates a century against Australia // Getty Images

Last month, Michael Clarke made it clear that he felt his new Melbourne Stars teammate was still capable of playing Test cricket.

“Yeah, I do think he could be at the Ashes,” Clarke said.

“He’s scoring enough runs, he’s made it very clear he wants to play and now it will come down to England selectors and the England board making their decision.

“At the moment from the Australians’ perspective I’m happy he’s not playing because he’s a wonderful player.”