{ "id": "23703", "author": "13", "cnmid": "0", "title": "Ex-England Test captain Alastair Cook admits Pietersen's axing not handled properly", "lang": "en", "series": "20", "cup_year": "2017", "article_type": "General", "excerpt": "", "subtype": "", "editor1": "

London, Feb 8 (CRICKETNMORE): Former England skipper Alastair Cook has expressed regret over the decision to sideline all-rounder Kevin Pietersen from the national squad in 2014. Foreign coaches have done damage to Pakistan cricket says Miandad<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n

Pietersen was axed from the squad with England director of cricket Andrew Strauss citing a "massive trust issue", following their 0-5 Ashes series loss to Australia.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Now, Cook, who quit the captaincy on Monday, put the blame on the England Cricket Board (ECB) saying that the whole issue was not properly handled.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

"I do wish it had been done differently. I felt it wasn't handled particularly well by the ECB. I know I was the lightning rod for it, every person thought it was my decision. I felt I bore the brunt of that, unfairly in my opinion," Cook was quoted as saying by dailymail.co.uk on Tuesday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

"I felt a little bit let down by the ECB in that one period, where they kind of let me out to dry a little bit. But that's all gone now," he added.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

"I think we all have regrets over the way it was handled, but when Andrew Strauss came on board and made the final decision (Pietersen) wasn't coming back, it made it a little easier."<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Commenting on the decision to quit as the Test captain after being in the role for more than four years, he said: "It was a tough decision but in one sense easier than I expected. The hard bit was giving it away and telling myself it was time to go, because it is such a brilliant job, but it was easy because I felt I was done.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

"I'd been to the well a couple of times as England captain and I couldn't go again. I've looked back a bit over the last couple of weeks knowing this was the end and I'm quite proud of what I've achieved," he added.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

In December, England lost to India 0-4 away.<\/p>\r\n", "image": "https:\/\/img.cricketnmore.com\/uploads\/2017\/02\/alastair-cook39.jpg", "alt_img": "Alastair Cook Image", "alt_title": "Alastair Cook", "image1": "", "video": "", "seo_title": "Ex-England Test captain Alastair Cook admits Pietersen's axing not handled properly", "seo_desc": "Ex-England Test captain Alastair Cook admits Pietersen's axing not handled properlyLondon, Feb 8 (CRICKETNMORE): Former England skipper Alastair Cook has expres", "seo_keywords": "Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen", "tag": "", "tagging": "", "status": "1", "img_rpt": "0", "google": "0", "standout": "0", "edapps": "0", "pulse": "0", "no_index": "0", "feed": "0", "fixture": "0", "slug": "ex-england-test-captain-cook-admits-pietersen-s-axing-not-handled-properly", "user_id": "0", "read_count": "0", "ians_date": "0000-00-00", "ians_time": "00:00:00", "server_time": "0000-00-00 00:00:00", "trash": "0", "view_count": "2647", "page_break": "0", "instant_articles": "0", "auto_link": "0", "created": "2017-02-08 22:36:00", "updated": "2017-02-08 22:36:00", "img_from": "", "img_source": "", "schedule_publish": "0000-00-00 00:00:00", "news_keywords": null, "livescore_text": null, "livescore_link": null, "btn_text": null, "resend_feed": "0", "google_feed": "0", "read_more": "0", "posted_by": "1", "jio_date": "2017-02-08 22:36:00", "scheduled": "0", "news_now": "1", "breaking_news": "0", "google_date": "2017-02-08 22:36:00", "featured": "0", "pred_match_id": null, "article_content_type": null, "england_cricket": "0", "link": "https:\/\/www.cricketnmore.com\/cricket-news\/ex-england-test-captain-cook-admits-pietersen-s-axing-not-handled-properly-23703" }