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Rediff.com  » Cricket » Pietersen to miss Australia's Twenty20 Big Bash

Pietersen to miss Australia's Twenty20 Big Bash

Source: ANI
June 12, 2012 12:08 IST
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England batsman Kevin Pietersen has said he has no plans to play in Australia's Twenty20 Big Bash League following his retirement from one-day international cricket.

England's mercurial batsman insisted on Sunday that he had no option but to quit ODIs last week because he risked falling out of love with cricket and he wants to keep playing Tests for at least four more years.

It means he will play no part in the forthcoming month of limited-overs cricket against the West Indies and Australia, any more future 50-over fixtures or England's defence of its World Twenty20 title in Sri Lanka, The Age reports.

He said he would not add Australia's competition to a Twenty20 portfolio that includes the Indian Premier League and Surrey.

Kevin PietersenPietersen also said on Sunday he still wanted to help England defend their World Twenty20 title in Sri Lanka in September, despite announcing his retirement from limited overs internationals.

The South Africa-born batsman was man of the tournament when England won the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean two years ago.

Bell will replace Pietersen as opener in England's ODI team

Meanwhile, Warwickshire batsman Ian Bell will replace Kevin Pietersen as Alastair Cook's opening partner in the England's ODI team.

Bell's last ODI appearance came against India last October. The absence of Pietersen may also provide Cook, the ODI captain, with a chance to return to the ranks under Stuart Broad in T20 cricket.

Test skipper Andrew Strauss branded Bell as one of the best players in the world, and backed him to turn a stop-start one-day career into a memorable one.

"Ian is one of the best players in the world and can adapt to any form of the game," said Strauss.

England boss Andy Flower confirmed Bell would replace Pietersen at the top of the order, The Daily Mirror reports.

"We don't want him to do a similar job to Kevin, we want him to be Ian Bell and play great one day international cricket," he said.

England one-day squad: Cook, Anderson, Bairstow, Bell, Bopara, Bresnan, Broad, Dernbach, Finn, Kieswetter, Morgan, Patel, Swann, Trott.

England T20 squad: Added: Briggs, Buttler, Hales. Removed: Cook, Trott, Anderson and Bell.

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Source: ANI

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