Former England captain Kevin Pietersen wants the selectors to drop opener Keaton Jennings and pacer Stuart Broad from the Test squad that will travel to Sri Lanka later this year.
Jennings has only scored 486 runs in 12 Tests and had a horrid home series against India where he only managed 163 runs.
“Jennings can’t bat, I’m sorry,” Pietersen told talkSPORT. “They are going to have to find somebody else. Cook is a big loss. I know he has been wishy-washy over the last couple of months but he finished on a fairy tale ending, which is brilliant for him but to replace that kind of guy at the top of the order, it is going to be difficult.
“I just don’t see county cricket producing Test cricketers at the moment. The issue is deep-rooted. All the best players in the world now are not playing county cricket. They are earning their cash in franchise cricket. Therefore, the standard of county cricket isn’t great, the standard of county batsmen is poor, and it is causing a massive issue in cabs on the rank for batting places.
“I’m not a massive fan of Vince, if I’m honest. He had his chances. I watched him play down under last year. He played nicely, but I just didn’t like the way he went about his business on a couple of occasions when the ball started to bounce. For the tour of South Africa next year, the ball will bounce.”
Pietersen said he would also drop Broad from the squad considering right-arm pacer’s poor record in subcontinent. Broad has only picked up 20 wickets in 10 Tests in the subcontinent at an average of 48.10.
“I would have dropped him last winter,” said Pietersen. “He doesn’t perform that well away from home. He had one good Ashes series and what he delivered for England in the big Ashes series last year was hopeless. I’ve been on tours of the sub-continent, he doesn’t like touring the sub-continent so it wouldn’t surprise me and it would be a very good move if they dropped him.”
England will play five One-Day Internationals, a one-off Twenty20 International and three Tests in Sri Lanka in October-November.
