Kevin Pietersen has slammed England captain Alastair Cook as “selfish” for playing down his team’s chances of winning next year’s World Cup.
Cook’s side beat India by 41 runs on Friday to salvage some pride after an emphatic defeat in the one-day series, but former England batsman Pietersen is still frustrated by what he sees as a negative attitude in the national team hierarchy.
“I think it is selfish that the captain is not talking positively about winning the World Cup,” Pietersen wrote in his Daily Telegraph column yesterday.
“In Alastair Cook’s own words it is ‘far fetched’ to believe we can win the tournament.
“I just do not buy that. It is also nonsense to think we do not have time to make changes that could transform England’s chances.”
Pietersen revealed that the lack of positivity going into next year’s tournament is especially galling after the Ashes schedule was amended to improve England’s chances.
“There is a theory the England and Wales Cricket Board are reluctant to remove Cook as captain of the one-day team because it might destabilise the camp ahead of next year’s Ashes,” he added.
“That is hard to swallow for those of us who endured back-to-back Ashes campaigns just so this winter could be dedicated to one-day cricket in the lead-up to the World Cup.
“This is not a witch-hunt against Cook,” he stressed.
“But he would gain a lot of respect if he admitted he is not the right man to open the batting and captain the one-day team, and decided he was going to concentrate all his efforts on winning back the Ashes,” Pietersen added.