Warne Digs at ECB

Australian leg spinning legend Shane Warne has blasted the ECB for not accomodating the needs of star batsman Kevin Pietersen in the shorter forms of the game....

Pietersen had wanted to pack the 50 over format game in, and continue in test matches and Twenty20 cricket, however the ECB pointed out that his contract stated he should be available for both forms of the game, and if he wanted to quit one format, he also had to give up the other.

Now, his friend and SKY commentator Warne has waded into the row,

He told the Independent: “Any team that hasn’t got Kevin Pietersen is significantly weaker. He’s a match-winner so that’s a big loss."

“It staggers me and I’m very surprised that the ECB didn’t try and negotiate that better, drop their egos and say, okay we understand this, we want to keep our best players playing all the time.”

He continued: “I think it’s just a bit too much ego for my liking from the ECB. “Who wouldn’t want Kevin Pietersen in your side? He’s a match-winner and he puts bums on seats because people love watching him play. “He rubs off on the rest of the players. So to me it’s a huge loss"

“People might give up more one-day cricket or they might give up Twenty20. “Michael Clarke’s given up Twenty20 in Australia because he can’t play all three forms at that level, but you can’t imagine Australia dropping him and saying don’t worry about one-day cricket, just stick to Tests.”