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29 March 2024

Pietersen retires from limited-overs cricket

Published
By AP

England batsman Kevin Pietersen announced his retirement from international limited-overs cricket on Thursday, reluctantly ruling himself out of his team's title defense at the World Twenty20 later this year.

The 31-year-old Pietersen will remain available for tests despite saying he would have played at the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka from Sept. 18 to Oct. 7 if the England and Wales Cricket Board's eligibility rules had allowed him to retire only from the 50-over format.

Pietersen was the player of the tournament when England won the 2010 World Twenty20 in West Indies, but any player who is unavailable for either format of one-day cricket is automatically ruled out of selection for both ODIs and T20s by the ECB.

"With the intensity of the international schedule and the increasing demands on my body, approaching 32, I think it is the right time to step aside and let the next generation of players come through to gain experience for the ICC World Cup in 2015," Pietersen said. "I am immensely proud of my achievements in the one-day game, and still wish to be considered for selection for England in test cricket.

"For the record, were the selection criteria not in place, I would have readily played for England in the upcoming ICC World Twenty20."

Pietersen has had a troubled relationship with the ECB. He lost the England captaincy in 2009 after a brief stint in charge following his rift with then-coach Peter Moores, was dropped from the ODI squad in 2010 and was fined an undisclosed amount last week for criticizing TV commentator Nick Knight on Twitter.

England cricket managing director Hugh Morris criticized Pietersen for only announcing his decision now.

"The ECB is disappointed by the timing of Kevin's decision, less than four months before we defend our ICC World Twenty20 title," Morris said. "The selectors will now replace Kevin in both the ODI and the T20 squads."

Pietersen played 127 one-day internationals, scoring 4,184 runs at an average of 41.84 and hitting 111 not out and his ODI high score of 130 in his final two matches.

He averaged 38 in international T20 cricket from 36 matches.