Don't point fingers at Joe Root, says Kevin Pietersen
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.
London: Former England captain Kevin Pietersen has lashed out over people pointing fingers at Joe Root's future as Test captain after the 1-0 series loss to West Indies, saying that the cricketing setup in the country 'stinks'.
He added that the current state of England's Test cricket is down to the quality of players in the side.
"As a captain you are only as good as your players. As a CEO of any business you are only as good as your team. My question is who is going to take over and who is going to do a better job with these players that they have got? Forget Joe Root, it is about the players.
Who is going to do a better job with the calibre of player that is playing Test cricket for England? It is not Joe Root's fault. Who are you going to pick?" 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." "Root is a world-class batsman and a very likeable lad but I feel he has never had that instinctive feel for the game as captain.
Clearly under Joe and Paul Collingwood in the West Indies, England tried to create this atmosphere where they were all mates and all in it together.
They want to be a likeable team but you need more than that to win Tests," wrote Hussain in his column for Daily Mail on Monday.
Hussain further slammed the decision made by the interim selection panel of coach Paul Collingwood, managing director Andrew Strauss and James Taylor to not pick veteran quicks Stuart Broad and James Anderson for the trip to the Caribbean.