Outed star batsman lays the boot into his former teammates after loss to Sri Lanka.
Kevin Pietersen has not held back when asked about England’s performance against Sri Lanka saying they are still in shock from giving up the Ashes 5-0.
The sacked batsman also took aim at his former captain Alastair Cook saying he beleives the lack of runs and criticism of his negative tactics have taken their toll.
“England were in winning positions in both matches but blew it, and I believe that is a symptom of the senior players being very unsettled,” Pietersen said.
“They are not turning up for the captain or coach. (Stuart) Broad and (James) Anderson looked jaded at Headingley,” added the South Africa-born batsman of the performance of England’s fast bowling duet in the second test loss in Leeds.
“Why? Why was Jimmy so emotional? We have lost a lot of matches in the past but he has never shown such emotion.
“It says to me there is an underlying current of unhappiness. The Australia tour was hard. We were beaten up due to a lot of reasons I cannot go into right now, and some of the senior players are still suffering, with the result that they are struggling to offer leadership in the dressing room.”
Pietersen said as much as Cook and the ECB are selling a new era to English cricket after their sudden downturn during the last Ashes series, the public are starting to see it for what it really means.
“You can only kid the public for so long,” he said.
“If you tell them this is a brave new dawn, that the team will play an aggressive brand of cricket and try to be positive, but then play the same old negative stuff, the supporters will soon turn away from the team in droves.”
Pietersen continued his stinging attack saying several of the senior players now appear to be “rabbits in the headlights” which was a shame according to the South African-born right-hander, given how far they have fallen.
“I saw in Cook at Headingley the same look (former captain) Andrew Strauss had when he played his last test at Lord’s,” he said.
“He was a rabbit in the headlights. It was a shame to see Cooky looking that way.”
Petersen did have some positive words to say about the current side, much of which were reserved for Gary Ballance, Sam Robson, Joe Root and Moeen Ali.
“A winning dressing room is a happy dressing room,” he said.
“If they are given the opportunity the young players will learn to win and the corner will be turned.”
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