Kevin Pietersen may not play for England again despite scoring a career best 326

England batsman Kevin Pietersen was reportedly told by the new England director Andrew Strauss that he will not play for his country again, hours after scoring a career-best unbeaten 326 on Monday.

The 34-year old, who is playing Country cricket for Surrey in bid to return to international cricket, struck his maiden First Class triple century against Leicestershire, surpassing his previous highest 254. Pietersen’s scored 326 from just 373 balls, in an innings that contained 34 boundaries and 14 sixes.

The South African-born Pietersen was axed from the English side after the side’s 5-0 defeat in the Ashes 2013-14 in Australia. He was due to meet Strauss, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) director of cricket and chief executive Tom Harrison to discuss his international prospects. As reported by BBC sports, the meeting did take place and the batsman was told that he wouldn’t play for England again.

A tweet from BBC’s Test Match Special read:

Television personality Piers Morgan, who is very close to Pietersen tweeted:

Pietersen, who was given a lifeline by the incoming ECB chairman Colin Graves, opted out of the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) in order to play County cricket and maximise his chances for playing for England. This will be indeed be a big blow for the cricketer’s hopes and will leave many fans around the world, disappointed.

Pietersen’s England stats:

Format

Matches

Innings

Runs

HS

Average

100s

50s

Test

104

181

8181

227

47.28

23

35

ODIs

136

125

4440

130

40.73

9

25

T20Is

37

36

1176

79

37.93

0

9