Pietersen didn’t cross ‘twitter line’ by criticizing Adelaide curator: Strauss

MELBOURNE - England captain Andrew Strauss has said that star batsman Kevin Pietersen has not crossed the line by criticizing Adelaide Oval curator Damian Hough on Twitter.

Pietersen was rebuked earlier for slamming the English selectors who dumped him from their limited-overs sides earlier this year.

Asked if Pietersen had crossed a line with his latest outburst, Strauss replied: “No, he didn’t. But obviously there are degrees of everything, and we don’t want anything that distracts our attention from what’s important - which is getting on the cricket pitch and performing.”

“I don’t think he realised when he put it on there. I think he was just frustrated. But the groundsman and authorities at Adelaide have looked after us exceptionally well. We’ve got no qualms with them whatsoever,” The Age quoted him, as saying.

Strauss added Twitter was a way for players to engage with cricket fans and express their differing personalities.

“It was just one of those situations where it was raining and they had to get the covers on. It’s not something that I was particularly concerned about. I think Kevin was just frustrated because he wanted to have a long bat yesterday and he wasn’t able to do that,” Strauss said.

“We have a set of [Twitter] guidelines for our players - and we fully expect them to adhere to those guidelines as much as possible. I wouldn’t prefer all of my players to be exactly like me. It would be a pretty boring dressing room. Everyone’s different, and a lot of the guys really enjoy it,” Strauss said.

Pietersen was highly annoyed when practice wickets were too wet to train on after a downpour on Wednesday.

It is understood Pietersen confronted Hough at the ground about the state of the practice nets, expressing his displeasure before filling in the rest of the world on his social media page. (ANI)