England coach Andy Flower (L) said as things stand, there no chance of England offering Kevin Pietersen a place in the World T20 © Getty Images
By CricketCountry Staff
London: Jul 15, 2012
Kevin Pietersen’s hope of a comeback to limited-overs cricket was dashed as England refused to budge despite the player's offer to retract his retirement from all limited overs cricket.
The former England captain had said that he was prepared to make himself available for England again in one-day cricket and wanted to play in all forms of the international game for 'three or four more years'.
“The situation is the same as it was when he first approached us. The ECB are determined to protect all three formats of the game and part of that is not setting a precedent of allowing players to retire from one-day cricket alone,” England coach Andy Flower was quoted saying by Daily Mail.
“So, as things stand, is there no chance of England offering Pietersen a place in the World T20?
"As things stand at the moment, no, there isn't," said Flower.
“The intent behind it is that we are serving English cricket in its entirety. We have to take personalities out of the equation.
“We all are lucky enough to have the choice about what we do. There are many people in this world that aren't lucky enough to have a choice. Here we're talking about a sporting situation and we all have our choices. I don't have to sign a contract with the ECB if I don't want to.
“I think it's sad for a player in his batting prime not to be playing all forms of international cricket, something that a lot of the guys work very hard for but are also very lucky to have the opportunity to do.
“So I would hate for him to get to the end of his career and look back and think, "Oh damn, I wish I hadn't missed the World T20 or the 2015 World Cup". Maybe he won't. Maybe he's a very … well he is a very different person to me, so he might not think that way at all.”
