London
: England exile Kevin Pietersen has said the -"archaic structure-" of domestic cricket lies behind the national side's Test series defeat by Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates.
Top-order batsman Pietersen, whose England career was effectively ended this year because of -"trust-" issues, called on the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to insist on more spin-friendly pitches and reduce the number of county clubs from the current 18.
-"The players are not to blame,-" said Pietersen, currently playing Twenty20 cricket in his native South Africa, on the BreatheSport website.
-"You cannot have the surfaces you're playing on in county cricket and think that the pool of players (available) to pick from, just a level down from the international Test stars, are going to be good enough to fill the gap and play well in these conditions.-"
England's spinners were outbowled by their Pakistan counterparts, while a team with relatively little collective experience of playing on turning pitches suffered batting collapses in the second and third Tests.
-"You can't have spinners bowling on green wickets (just) because counties want results,-" said Pietersen. -"You just can't have it.-"
Meanwhile Peter Such, the ECB's lead spin coach, agreed more responsive pitches were part of the solution.
-"We need to find a way to get those overs into our young bowlers,-" said Such, himself a former England off-spinner.
-"Ideally you want an environment that is more spin-friendly -- and the surfaces we play on are the most important factor in that, it determines so much of the game we play.-"
Pietersen, however, was adamant that England had to reduce the number of professional county cricketers.
-"What needs to happen is the counties need to be shrunk,-" he said. -"There need to be fewer teams.
-"You need fast bowlers only playing eight to 10 first-class games over six months. They can then bowl fast for six months.
-"You need spinners bowling on Test match wickets, so that they learn to bowl on them.
-"You need batsmen knowing they've got to bat long, and really well, to get runs.
-"The whole environment then becomes a lot more Test-equipped.-"
Green, seam-friendly pitches have long been a part of the English cricket landscape, but Pietersen said domestic conditions had to change if they were to improve their away form.
-"They (will then) know they're not going to be playing on a green seamer, and having a two-day game because 'dibbly-dobblies' are going to knock you over,-" the former England captain explained.
-"Things need to happen. The ECB needs to manage all the (groundsmen) -- they need to prepare Test wickets.
-"We cannot blame the players in this situation. The structure is to blame.
-"It is archaic, and it needs to change.-"
