Keaton Jennings and Stuart Broad don't fit into the Test side for Sri Lanka tour: Kevin Pietersen

England might have won the Test series against India 4-1 but it also exposed the set of problems they need to address. The first starts at the top of the order. Keaton Jennings played all the five matches in the series and didn’t manage a single half century. On the other hand, his partner Alastair Cook has retired so for England to now drop him, they need to find two openers. However, Kevin Pietersen thinks that’s the way to go about it.

While the left-hander struggled at home, England’s batting coach Paul Farbrace has backed him to do well on the tour of Sri Lanka. Their next Test assignment is in the subcontinent in October. Pietersen for one also wants pacer Stuart Broad who is one wicket shy of Kapil Dev’s tally of 434 wickets to be dropped for the tour since he doesn’t enjoy playing in the subcontinent and has a poor record away from home.

“Jennings can’t bat, I’m sorry,” Pietersen was quoted as saying by talkSPORT. “They are going to have to find somebody else. Cook is a big loss. I know he has been wishy-washy over the last couple of months but he finished on a fairy tale ending, which is brilliant for him but to replace that kind of guy at the top of the order, it is going to be difficult.

He highlighted the problem with country cricket and said the standards have gone down and thus it is no longer producing Test cricketers for England.

“I just don’t see county cricket producing Test cricketers at the moment. The issue is deep-rooted. All the best players in the world now are not playing county cricket. They are earning their cash in franchise cricket. Therefore, the standard of county cricket isn’t great, the standard of county batsmen is poor, and it is causing a massive issue in cabs on the rank for batting places,” he added.

I’m not a massive fan of Vince

One prominent option that England have to bring in at the top is James Vince. The 27-year-old after a 13-match stint with the Test team was asked to score runs in county cricket. He has done and scored 847 runs at an average of 56.46 for Hampshire. Vince was thus included in the Test squad for the fifth match against India.

“I’m not a massive fan of Vince, if I’m honest. He had his chances. I watched him play down under last year. He played nicely, but I just didn’t like the way he went about his business on a couple of occasions when the ball started to bounce. For the tour of South Africa next year, the ball will bounce,” the former England captain said.

Drop broad for Sri Lanka

Having played with Broad on the tours of the subcontinent KP said, “I would have dropped him last winter He doesn’t perform that well away from home. He had one good Ashes series and what he delivered for England in the big Ashes series last year was hopeless. I’ve been on tours of the sub-continent, he doesn’t like touring the sub-continent so it wouldn’t surprise me and it would be a very good move if they dropped him.”

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