Thaindian News

London, Jul 4 (ANI): England batsman Kevin Pietersen has been ruled out of the one-day series against Bangladesh after picking up a thigh injury during fifth ODI against Australia on Saturday.

Pietersen picked the injury while fielding, and was then out for a four-ball duck when he batted with a runner in England’s run-chase at Lord’s.

The series against Bangladesh starts on Thursday, but Pietersen’s biggest worry is being fit for the four Tests against Pakistan, which begins on July 29.

“Kevin has a quad strain so it is highly unlikely he’ll be fit. But we’re not going to rule him out at this stage,” News of the World quoted skipper Andrew Strauss, as saying.

Despite England crashing to a second straight loss against archrivals Australia, they won the series 3-2, a real confidence booster ahead of the Ashes.

Strauss said: “I’m disappointed we lost the last two one-dayers as we were in a good position to assert some supremacy over Australia. We weren’t able to do that but we have won a series against the world’s No 1 team and that is something we should be very proud of in a five-match series.”

“Australia’s one-day record in the last 12 months has been outstanding and they came back at us very hard, which we expected. We haven’t been as consistent in the last 12 to 18 months and that is something we are trying to remedy,” he said.

“People try to turn this into an Ashes battle. It is very much to do with one-day cricket, the World Cup and improving. We’re not the finished article in one-dayers but, over five games, there are far more positives to take,” Strauss added. (ANI)