Pietersen, who was exiled from the England squad following the 2013/14 Ashes defeat to Australia and told his global career was over by European Central Bank director Andrew Strauss earlier this year in a drawn out saga, used the faith in Cook during his lean spell of runs as an example of why Bell should have been given one more chance against the Proteas.
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It’s undoubtedly the end of an era, and while the decision is probably justified, most right-thinking England fans will spend most of today searching for Ian Bell cover drives on YouTube.
With the ploy of using Moeen as a makeshift opener not proving to be fruitful, England have options in Compton and Alex Hales to open the innings with Cook in the Test series.
The selectors have a couple of other tight calls to make – whether they will again need Adil Rashid as a second spinner, and if cover is needed for the problem opening position.
England will miss the services of Mark Wood and Steven Finn, the fast bowling duo, due to injuries, but Ben Stokes has completed his recovery.
England also sprang a surprise by leaving out leg-spinner Adil Rashid.
‘Captain Cook himself, he can go two years without a Test hundred, yet he can play every single game and as for Belly, Belly struggles a little bit, he got a hundred what, nine or ten Test matches ago, but he is not good enough to get to the South African tour.
Compton was controversially dropped in 2013 despite scoring two centuries in New Zealand the previous winter, but his consistency at county level, scoring 1000 first-class runs in each of the last five seasons, has forced his way back in.
Steve Grant, on Twitter, wrote: “Got to think that’s probably Ian Bell done in worldwide cricket”. He will now join up with the Strikers under the guidance of his coach at Yorkshire, Jason Gillespie. Wood will undergo ankle surgery next week and Finn will continue his recovery from a bone stress injury.
“Although he would have been selected as a back-up spinner, we feel there is an excellent opportunity for him to spend a few time developing his white-ball skills in the lead-up to the ICC World T20 in March”.
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Samit Patel has retained his place in the squad, while Liam Plunkett couldn’t manage to find a spot despite being in the squad for the Pakistan series.
