Former captain Michael Vaughan feels Kevin Pietersen should not have been picked for England after the 2012 text-gate scandal, where the latter was accused of sending unsavoury messages about skipper Andrew Strauss to the opposition team during the course of a Test match.
Pietersen was part of four Ashes series wins, including the watershed 2005 victory but later fell out of the England set-up. Midway through South Africa’s 2012 tour of England, Pietersen was accused of sending text messages against Strauss to his opponents.
The full content of those messages sent during the second Test in Leeds in August 2012 remains unknown. Some say the South African-born went as far as giving fast bowler Morne Morkel tips on how to get Strauss out.
“I’ve never seen 100% clarification that that was the case, but if he did, I personally said at the time and have said it since, he shouldn’t have ever played for England again,” Vaughan was quoted as saying by foxsports.com.au.
“If an England player, doesn’t matter who it is, [is] found to be texting the opposing international team how to get one of your own players out I don’t think he should have played for England again,” said Vaughan.
Pietersen was dropped from the England squad for the third Test in Lord’s against South Africa but he returned for the tour of India later in 2012 and went on to play 16 more Tests before his retirement in 2014. He scored 8,181 runs from 104 Tests. “It had a huge effect on English cricket for a while and I still think it has a massive effect on a few individuals. I still think there are a few who have come out of this worse,” Vaughan said.
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