Kevin Pietersen not worthy of England place, says Steve Waugh
Monday 20 April 2015 11:03, UK
Former Australia captain Steve Waugh says England should move on from Kevin Pietersen and not consider recalling him to their Test side.
Pietersen made 19 runs for Surrey on Sunday in his first County Championship innings of the season as he looks to score heavily and claim a place in the England side to face New Zealand and Australia this summer.
The 34-year-old was axed from the international set-up in the wake of England's Ashes debacle in 2013-14, but despite him having scored more than 8,000 Test runs, Waugh does not believe he is one of England's best six batsmen at the moment.
And he feels making a clean break from the baggage Pietersen might bring to the squad would be advantageous to Alastair Cook ahead of this summer's bid to claim the Ashes back.
"England have got to make a clean break and look forward to the future," Waugh said. "Sometimes you have to have short-term pain to get the long-term gain.
"I don't think he's a great player right now. Setting aside all the other things, I don't think his form warranted a spot in the England side. He may have been a great player but I wouldn't class him as one now."
Waugh says there are more than enough questions about Pietersen, both on and off the field, that should make the decision to leave him out a straightforward one.
He added: "First, he has to be one of the best six batsmen in the country, which he's not.
"Then is he right for the current set-up? Does he fit in how the team is moving forward? Can he work with the captain and other players? Obviously there have been some issues. That's part of the reason why he's not there now.
"Unless he's changed as a person and a personality - and that's hard to do - I don't know how you go back to what happened before.
"The No 1 thing is you've got to respect each other. Once this stops you're in real trouble. And I think that's probably happened over the past couple of years."
