Pietersen to hold Strauss talks

Kevin Pietersen, left, is believed to have advised South Africa on dismissing Andrew Strauss
20 August 2012

Kevin Pietersen is set to meet with England captain Andrew Strauss next week as he seeks to salvage his international career.

Press Association Sport understands the pair will meet following the conclusion of the third Investec Test match at Lord's in the wake of text messages sent by Pietersen to members of the South African team during the second match of the series at Headingley.

Reports on Sunday morning allege that Pietersen described Strauss in offensive terms in one of the messages and offered advice to the South Africans on how to dismiss the skipper.

Pietersen's camp would not comment on the content of the texts, but former England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Lord MacLaurin said he fears the 32-year-old could have played his final game for England if the reports are proven to be accurate.

Pietersen has apologised to England for the texts but has not divulged their specific content, and it is thought his international career will remain on hold until negotiations with the ECB are concluded. MacLaurin, chairman of the ECB for six years from 1997, feels that if the allegations are proven, then Pietersen's England career is over.

He told Five Live's Sportsweek programme: "I think the Kevin Pietersen thing is pretty sad and pretty serious for cricket, the ECB are capable of dealing with the matter as they see fit.

"Nobody is bigger than the game and history is littered with sports stars who believe they are bigger than the game and business people too. They usually end up halfway down the batting order.

"If the reports in the papers are true.....I think Mr Pietersen will never play for England again."

MacLaurin also pointed to Pietersen's apparent lack of popularity during his county career in England as well as with the national team.

He said: "If you look at the record of the gentleman concerned he hasn't been greatly loved at Hampshire, at Nottinghamshire or at Surrey or in the England dressing room."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in