Andrew Strauss said Sunday that "inflammatory comments" made by Kevin Pietersen in his controversial autobiography helped explain the star batsman's ongoing exile from the England team. Pietersen, England's leading all-time run-scorer across all formats, has been in the international wilderness since the team returned from their 5-0 Ashes thrashing in Australia last year.
One of Strauss's first acts as the new England and Wales Cricket Board's director of cricket was to tell Pietersen, his predecessor as England captain, that a "massive trust issue" prevented him being recalled for this season's home internationals with New Zealand and Australia.
That appeared to contradict earlier comments from new ECB chairman Colin Graves that a return was possible if Pietersen scored enough runs in county cricket.
Unfortunately for Pietersen, and indeed for the image of the ECB, Strauss told him he would remain frozen out of England contention shortly after the 34-year-old has scored his maiden first-class triple century, during Surrey's County Championship match against Leicestershire at The Oval. Strauss's first week in his new post also saw him sack England coach Peter Moores, but it was his take on Pietersen that provoked the greatest public criticism.