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Cricket

Pietersen blames distractions on defeat

02/11/2008

Captain Kevin Pietersen has claimed outside distractions were to blame for England's heavy defeat to the Stanford Superstars in their Twenty20 clash.

England suffered a ten-wicket defeat in a match where the players could have walked away with $1 million (£618,000) each.

Pietersen felt England's preparations for the game had not been up to the required standard and that they must take a more single-minded approach in future.

"It was a disappointment really on how the team have handled the week," said Pietersen. "I said it was diving into the unknown, those deep waters of uncertainty.

"We concentrated on other things in terms of outside stuff and distractions. We've probably not done it the right way, we have not solely concentrated on the cricket."

Pietersen said the players had tried to get into the spirit of the competition but in hindsight should have done things differently.

The England captain said that the experience would stand them in good stead in the future and that they have learned a lot for when they return for the same fixture next year.

He said: "We have not just been thinking about cricket and the game. Nobody in the world has played for $20million [£12.4 million] in three hours before. Now we know how to deal with it in future years."

By contrast Superstars captain Chris Gayle was delighted with how his side had performed, though he was equally pleased to have the match out of the way.

He said: "Words can't explain it. Trust me, I am just glad it is over, the feeling is tremendous. We are very grateful for what happened tonight.

"The guys really turned up to the party tonight, we hit the England guys from ball one and you couldn't ask for a better performance than this."

England will hope for a better performance and preparation when they travel to India this week for seven one-day internationals.