Aussie quick in disbelief over KP decision

Veteran paceman Ryan Harris says until the teams are actually named he won’t believe England will go into this year’s Ashes series without their leading run-scorer across all formats, Kevin Pietersen.Pietersen made a record-breaking 326 not out for Surrey in Division Two of the County Championship yesterday, yet the England and Wales Cricket Board’s newly-appointed Director of Cricket Andrew Strauss has reportedly already told his former teammate that he will not be a part of the national side’s future.

But Harris, who will miss the West Indies tour due to the birth of his first child and be at peak fitness for the Ashes, is not convinced England would be willing to go into Test cricket’s most famous series without a match-winner such as Pietersen, regardless of his chequered history with Strauss and several members of the current playing squad.

“I know that Strauss and him probably don’t get on, (but) I’m not going to believe it until we get over there and they pick their squad,” Harris told cricket.com.au.“He’s just peeled off a triple-hundred. “If he keeps going on and playing for Surrey, he may quit now, but if he keeps going and scoring hundred after hundred there’s going to be a lot of pressure to pick him.“Although it has been said by the new cricket director, I’m not going to believe it until we play five Tests and Kevin Pietersen doesn’t play.“If he keeps scoring runs the way he is it’s going to be very hard not to pick him.