Pietersen accepts Ashes win vindicates decision

A month after the Ashes urn was regained, Kevin Pietersen accepted that England's triumph over Australia shows Andrew Strauss was right not to recall him. Strauss, England's director of cricket, ended the big-hitting batsman's hopes of an international comeback in May over a "massive trust issue" which threatened team harmony. 

"He had a decision to make, he made his decision and it's turned out absolutely fine: England won the Ashes," Pietersen said. "At the time I would have said 'Ridiculous, nonsense.' I might have said something stronger to him. "But look, England have won the Ashes and I'm not a negative person. I am so positive. I am buzzing England have done what they have done."

After raging in May about being denied a return to the England team, having being dropped following the 2013-14 Ashes whitewash in Australia, the maverick player has now mellowed. With Strauss's decision appearing to be vindicated, England showed it can cope without its all-time leading run-scorer across all formats with the 3-2 series win over Australia.

"Absolutely (leaving him out) seems to be the right decision at the moment and good luck to (Strauss)," Pietersen said at a Sport Industry Group breakfast in London. "It is what it is. I can't go in there and change things. I think he has done OK. 

"Some of the stuff he has done with the England team and getting past players into the dressing room is brilliant because I think there is so much knowledge we missed out on for the last three or four years of my career where we could have had that input from outside the dressing room." 

The South African-born player recognizes his international career is probably over and he is instead focused on Twenty20. He will return home to play for the Durban-based Dolphins next month for up to five games before a stint in the inaugural Pakistan Premier League, which starts in February in the United Arab Emirates. 

When asked whether he's passionate about playing in the lucrative Twenty20 format, Pietersen responded with a smile: "I have to be. I can't be with test cricket." Pietersen, though, still sees the five-day game as the pinnacle of cricket and a format that must be both protected and enhanced. "It is an amazing part of what we do and I think it's the best part of what we do — it's the thing I miss most about the game," Pietersen said. "I think test cricketers need to be paid more."

"Test cricketers need to know they are getting looked after a lot more so that they don't think, 'I'm not really making it here in the test arena, I can flip over and play T20 cricket.'"
The shorter format is where the 35-year-old Pietersen appears set to set out his career, with the prospect on an England return highly unlikely. "As soon as I stop love my batting and practicing my batting then I will stop," he said. 

"As course I'd love to play test cricket because test cricket is where you get tested. "But if that can't happen I will keep plying my trade wherever I can over the next few years."