Kevin Pietersen boosts hopes of an England Ashes recall by hitting triple century for Surrey

KEVIN Pietersen belted an incredible triple century for county side Surrey, only to reportedly be told he will never play for England again.

KEVIN Pietersen thought he boosted his hopes of an international recall after blasting a career-best 326 not out in county cricket, only to reportedly be told several hours later that he will never play for England again.

Pietersen on Monday surpassed his previous first-class best of 254 in a mammoth innings for Surrey on day two of their County Championship Division Two match against Leicestershire at The Oval. The 34-year-old’s new record total came in just 373 balls as he smashed 34 fours and 14 sixes to all corners of the south London venue in Surrey’s first innings total of 9-528.

It seemed a perfectly timed statement of intent from Pietersen, who has hoped for an England recall since being axed in the aftermath of their 2013-14 Ashes whitewash defeat in Australia.

KP ‘WILL NEVER PLAY FOR ENGLAND AGAIN’

Kevin Pietersen in action for Surrey.

However reports from the UK are saying that in a meeting with newly appointed director of English cricket Andrew Strauss, Pietersen was told his dreams of playing Test cricket again are over.

The South Africa-born star had revealed immediately after that day’s play that he was due to meet Strauss and England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Tom Harrison later on Monday to discuss his international prospects.

“They say timing is everything. He (Strauss) has come in, there’s a new chairman on Friday or Saturday, there has to be a new coach, (Peter) Moores has gone,” Pietersen said.

“I was told to go and get a county, I was told to score runs, I think I’m scoring runs.”

Before reportedly receiving the bad news, Pietersen would have headed into the talks with renewed belief he could yet face old rivals Australia in the Ashes later this year.

The first signs of hope came in March when incoming ECB chairman Colin Graves told Pietersen that runs for Surrey could provide the pathway he needs and he responded by agreeing a new contract with the county.

Ha! Seriously? Not sure my career can be decided on one innings on a Mon in London...we get judged on Ashes series' https://t.co/hsJ1ZuJKml

— Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) May 11, 2015

Pietersen was been further encouraged by the dismissal over the weekend of England coach Peter Moores, with whom he had an acrimonious power struggle during a previous spell in charge of the national team.

However, Strauss had an equally difficult relationship with Pietersen when he captained the volatile star, who reportedly fell out with several more of his international team-mates.

Pietersen had to admit sending “provocative” texts about Strauss to South Africa players in 2012 and last year Strauss, then working as a television pundit, embarrassingly let slip exactly what he thought of his former team-mate with an obscenity picked up on a stray broadcast microphone.

Kevin Pietersen’s case for an Ashes recall just got a whole lot stronger.

Strauss is certain to be grilled about the situation when he holds his first press conference on Tuesday, before announcing the Test squad to face New Zealand at Lord’s next week — a match which Pietersen believes he should feature in.

“I want my England place, and I think I deserve my England place.

“The pressure I was under this morning, that’s one of the best innings I’ve ever played — purely because I knew that (on Tuesday) there’s a press conference, and I knew that there were things happening this evening,” Pietersen added.

“So I knew that I needed to basically answer any questions with runs on the deck. And goodness: 326 is a pretty good argument.”