England not good enough to leave out players like Kevin Pietersen, says Nasser Hussain

Nasser Hussain doesn't believe England are good enough to make players unavailable for selection.

Kevin Pietersen was told on Monday that his short-term England future was over due to 'trust issues' with the England Cricket Board, but Hussain says he would have handled things differently.

“I was a captain who believed in picking your best players,” he said. “If you are captain or coach, you man-manage difficult people.

“That’s why you’re in the job and get paid the extra few quid.

“We’re not good enough to make anyone unavailable for selection, unless they retire, so personally, I would have said to Kevin – as maybe Colin Graves [chairman elect] did – ‘Go away, play for a county, get some runs and maybe we’ll consider you for selection’.

“When he did that, I would have then gone to him and said, ‘you’ve done everything we’ve asked, but at the moment looking at the side, there is no place in that middle order’.

“But you carry on doing what you’re doing and we’ll consider you. That’s how I would have handled the situation.”

Live Test Cricket

Andrew Strauss made clear the ECB's stance on Pietersen at the press conference to announce his appointment as the new Director of England cricket.

And although Hussain would have done thngs differently, he respects Strauss for sticking to his guns. 

"Make no mistake, Strauss could have easily gone the other way, gone with the populist view – with everyone on social media," added Hussain. "But he has taken the difficult decision and he will be judged on the results."