London: Former England captain Kevin Pietersen has lashed out over individuals pointing fingers at Joe Root’s future as Test captain after the 1-0 sequence loss to West Indies, saying that the cricketing setup within the nation ‘stinks’.
He added that the present state of England’s Test cricket is right down to the standard of gamers within the facet.
“As a captain you’re solely pretty much as good as your gamers. As a CEO of any enterprise you’re solely pretty much as good as your workforce. My query is who’s going to take over and who’s going to do a greater job with these gamers that they’ve? Forget Joe Root, it’s concerning the gamers. Who goes to do a greater job with the calibre of participant that’s enjoying Test cricket for England? It is just not Joe Root’s fault. Who are you going to select?” said Pietersen to TalkSport Radio.
Former players like Nasser Hussain, Michael Vaughan, Michael Atherton and Steve Harmison have called for Root to be sacked as Test captain as England lost the third Test against West Indies by ten wickets at Grenada on Sunday and lost the series 1-0.
Under Root’s leadership, England have now won just one Test in last 17 matches of the longest format of the game. Overall, under Root’s captaincy, England have played 64 Tests, winning 27 while losing 26 matches.
To prove his point of quality of players in England’s setup, Pietersen gave left-arm spinner Jack Leach and off-spinner Dom Bess as examples. “When Jack Leach and Ben Stokes put that partnership together at Headingley (in the Ashes) three years ago, Stokes played the innings of his life – I said then Leach is not good enough.”
“He could be remembered for his glasses and the whole lot else that’s carried on, effectively let’s hope he’s not remembered for that as a result of he’s not a adequate spinner. He’s not. And who’s second in line, Dom Bess? Are you joking? So you’re all pointing fingers at Joe Root in the meanwhile, don’t level fingers at Root, perceive the setup. The setup stinks.”
With the name of all-rounder Ben Stokes being circulated as a successor of Root, Pietersen, who played 104 Tests for England disagreed with such suggestions. “How is he (Stokes) going to do any better than Joe Root? He can’t (do any worse) but you can have as many voices as you want, that’s what I am saying, how are you going to change?”
“How are you going to get these guys scoring runs in opposition to the very best bowlers on this planet? Have you see what’s coming (in summer time)? New Zealand, India, South Africa. How are you going to get these guys scoring 200s? Number one, two, three, 4 and 5, how are you going to get them scoring 200s once they can’t bat?”
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