Pietersen has to put team first: Warne

LONDON - Former Australian spin wizard Shane Warne feels that charismatic England batsman Kevin Pietersen should learn to put the team first, not himself.

Pietersen has come under heavy criticism for playing reckless strokes in the first drawn Ashes Test in Cardiff that almost put England on the verge of a loss.

“There is no doubt to me that he (Pietersen) can be the best batsman in the world. He has so much talent, but the best players have that determination to make big scores and don’t make silly mistakes. There was a great example of what I mean at Cardiff: Ricky Ponting’s 150 was a really solid innings by a very talented and consistent player,” Warne said in his column in The Times, London.

Warne said that Pietersen reminds him of Mark Waugh, who would make batting look easy but would get out in a horrible fashion.

“Junior (Mark) was another who found batting so easy that he sometimes got out in ways that looked horrible, like reverse-sweeping Phil Tufnell. I think Pietersen, too, just gets bored. That is where hunger comes in. He (Pietersen) prepares better than anybody for games, but he has to put the team first, not himself,” Warne said.

“You have to be careful not to overcriticise. Cricket isn’t played by robots. Any batsman can get out. What matters is the way they get out, because that reveals their thought processes about batting. It seemed that Pietersen just wanted to keep playing sweep shots against Nathan Hauritz. To me, that is an ego shot,” he said.

Warne also pointed out that England need to sort out their bowling attack for the second Test at Lord’s from Thursday.

“England will look at their bowling attack. I think Adil Rashid is ready for Test cricket. They need a bit of variety among the pace bowlers. Maybe Ryan Sidebottom, Stephen Harmison, James Anderson and Andrew Flintoff would be the best combination,” he said.