Kevin Pietersen says ‘next Test may be my last’

England’s superstar batsman Kevin Pietersen has hinted his retirement, saying that the next Test against South Africa may his last international game. Pietersen has already announced his retirement from limited-over cricket.

"I can’t rule out that my next Test may be my last," he said after winning the Man-of-the-Match award at Headingley.

The South Africa-born cricketer was England’s most successful batsman in the second Test. He not only impressed everyone by smashing a wonderful innings of 149 runs, but also picked up three wickets to make himself the strongest candidate for the ‘Player
of the Match’ award.

Many believe that Pietersen is leaving international cricket just to make himself available for tournaments like Indian Premier League. However, the 32-year-old cleared some air, saying that money is not the only issue.

"That is two of many points. But they’re not the main two points. Let’s make that very clear, there are other points I am trying to sort out in the dressing room. There are a lot of other issues. It’s absolutely 100 percent not a money issue. You’ll find
out soon enough, not tonight. It will be a lot clearer after the next Test match," he stated after the match.

He added, "I love playing Test cricket for England. The saddest part for me is that the spectators just love watching me play and I love playing for England but the politics is what I have to deal with personally. It’s tough for me playing for England."

When asked about his negotiations with ECB, he uttered, "It was blamed on me, it was me grabbing the headlines. Did I leak anything to the media about my meetings with the ECB? I never spoke a single word to a single journalist about anything that was spoken
about behind closed doors, that I thought were closed doors."

The Englishmen are still 1-0 down in the series, as the second game ended in draw because of heavy showers at Headingley. South Africa made 419 runs in the first innings, courtesy of brilliant batting by Alviro Petersen.

In reply, the Poms scored 425 runs with the help of Pietersen’s ton. By scoring 258 runs in the second innings, the home side set a target of 253 for the tourists, who were 130/4 at the end of the game.

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Posted by Rana Nasir Ghafoor on Aug 7 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry