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Pietersen has no Surrey future - Butcher

Mark Butcher insists Kevin Pietersen has no long-term future at Surrey after joining the county on loan for the rest of the season

Cricinfo staff
03-Sep-2010
Kevin Pietersen in a Surrey shirt for now but not for much longer according to Mark Butcher  •  PA Photos

Kevin Pietersen in a Surrey shirt for now but not for much longer according to Mark Butcher  •  PA Photos

Mark Butcher insists Kevin Pietersen has no long-term future at Surrey after joining the county on loan for the rest of the season earlier this week.
Pietersen was dropped by England for the upcoming Twenty20 and ODI series against Pakistan after struggling for form in the Test matches this summer and told to rediscover his form in county cricket. It was an ignominious end to a season that started so promisingly when Pietersen was named Player of the Tournament in England's successful World Twenty20 campaign in the Caribbean.
Since the World Twenty20 he has made just 232 runs in nine Test innings and though he was initially unhappy to be dropped by England, Pietersen now insists he's looking forward to getting some time in the middle for Surrey.
Yet Butcher, who captained Surrey last year, believes the county do not want Pietersen permanently and thinks the player will struggle to find any county that does next season.
"It's just a loan," Butcher told TalkSport. "Surrey are very much keen to get it out there that the ECB asked them to take Kevin Pietersen and that they didn't instigate the move. They are essentially doing the ECB a favour in taking him, so where that leaves KP when he is looking for a county next year I don't know. It's a difficult situation for him, everybody gets dropped at some point and it's how you react to that."
Pietersen began his career in England at Nottinghamshire, before leaving in controversial circumstances, with the club captain Jason Gallian dumping Pietersen's kitbag over the pavilion balcony at Trent Bridge. He left for Hampshire after the 2004 season but since making his England debut in July 2005, Pietersen has featured in a solitary county four-day fixture for the club and he revealed half way through this season that he intends to leave Hampshire and find a county closer to his London home.
Hampshire duly decided they would not require his services which left him unable to go back to county cricket to find form when his performances for England dipped.
"Being an England contracted player whatever contract he signs with a county is held in abeyance, until such a time as he loses that contract," said Butcher. "The ECB pay him, counties do not, so it is not a money issue it's a Kevin Pietersen thing unfortunately."