Pietersen Absent From World T20 Squad

The reigning World T20 Player of the Tournament Kevin Pietersen has been overlooked again by England ahead of the 2012 event following his text-messaging scandal.

The 32-year-old batsman was left out of England’s 15-man squad for the event which takes place in Sri Lanka next month.

Pietersen had recently went back on his decision to make himself unavailable from short-form cricket following the fallout from the Second Test scandal whereby he allegedly texted the South African team negative messages surrounding captain Andrew Strauss.

The South Africa-born batsman was also excluded from selection for the upcoming one-day and T20 series against the Proteas.

“Kevin Pietersen’s future involvement is still being determined and he was therefore not considered for selection in either squad,” England selector Geoff Miller told reporters.

England coach Andy Flower said the situation was “sad” but needed to be resolved before he could return to the national set-up.

“It’s a very sad situation for everyone involved. He (Pietersen) played superbly in our last Twenty20 World Cup but the circumstances that exist at the moment mean that he can’t be selected for us,” he said.

“There are still issues unresolved and we will be addressing those issues when we have time to do so. Let me just be clear, this is not just an issue between the captain and Kevin. There are deeper issues.”

England squad: Stuart Broad (captain), Jonathan Bairstow, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Danny Briggs, Jos Buttler, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Craig Kieswetter, Michael Lumb, Eoin Morgan, Samit Patel, Graeme Swann, Luke Wright