… ‘Legal restraints’ prevent him giving reasons over sacking
… ‘Not at liberty to say’ why England batsman was dropped
THE reasons for the sacking of Kevin Pietersen still remained unclear after the England selector James Whitaker said he was “not at liberty to say” why the batsman had been dropped.In an interview with Sky Sports on the back of the announcement of the England squad to tour the Caribbean, Whitaker said he was not able to give an explanation for the decision because of ‘legal restraints’. “I am not at liberty to say,” he emphasised.
Advised that the public was still waiting for an explanation, he said: “I can imagine that that is the case but unfortunately I’m not in a position to reiterate what the reasons have been.”
In an appearance that was interrupted when his mobile phone went off causing Sky to switch back to the studio while he dealt with it, he suggested that for England it was an “interesting and challenging time” and admitted that it was “a surprise to be going into an ICC competition without one of our leading run-scorers” but pointed out that “the players and the management group are well rehearsed in coping without him”.
He added: “The ODI team and the England T20 team have played a number of matches over the last 12 months or so without Kevin and performed very well so we would still hope that’s going to be the case going forward.”
He said: “Yes, it was a tricky decision, but in another way it gives opportunities for players to play in that environment.
“Sometimes when performances go against us you have to evaluate what is going on,” he said, adding that: “We will always review our options of players available to play for England.” (The Guardian)