Flower may quit if Pietersen plays on

Correspondent | Wednesday January 8, 2014 14:32

It is believed, moreover, that both Flower and the captain Alastair Cook are likely to get Downton's official backing.

However, so adamant is Flower that the presence of Pietersen in the dressing room is detrimental to the future development of the side that he is believed to be prepared to resign his position should Downton, James Whitaker, the new national selector, and Cook - if he retains the captaincy - insist that Pietersen should be a part of that process.

Pietersen and Flower have issues that go back at least to early summer 2012 when, without warning, the batsman declared himself unavailable for one-day international matches.

Following what were considered inappropriate text messages to the South Africa team regarding the then England captain Andrew Strauss, which subsequently contributed to his retirement. Pietersen was omitted from the final Test of the summer and it was not until the tour of India that winter that he was reintegrated into the side.

In Mumbai on that tour he played one of the great Test innings to help kickstart a revival that led to a memorable series win for Cook and England.

However, it has always seemed an uneasy truce and on this tour, despite his assurances before his 100th Test in Brisbane that he was committed to England to 2015 and beyond, it is thought that Pietersen's influence in the dressing room has been divisive.

He is one of many who failed to score big runs during the Ashes series, top scoring although with only 294 runs at an average of 29.4 but, as a senior player, the nature of a number of his dismissals when apparently batting comfortably has led to some strong exchanges. Flower is thought to believe that the future development of the team can only happen without Pietersen.

In the wake of speculation that he might retire from Test cricket after the Ashes Pietersen, who is very media-savvy, has already tweeted a reiteration of his desire to continue at least until the end of the next Ashes series, and perhaps into the series in South Africa, the only country in which he has yet to score a Test hundred. He also wants to be the first England batsman to score 10,000 Test runs. (The Guardian)