Ian Bell insists he is focused on winning with England at Lord’s rather than the Kevin Pietersen saga as the side prepare for the must-win third Test against South Africa.
Selectors axed Pietersen for the series finale, which England are 5/2 with bookmaker to win, after he failed to confirm publicly that he had not sent derogatory text messages to South African players during the drawn second Test.
In his absence, Bell will be joined by Jonny Bairstow and James Taylor as England battle to avoid a series defeat.
“For me I try not to get involved – I am trying to score as many runs as I can to try and win us a Test match and I have got to focus on that, not on all the other stuff that is going on,” Bell said.
“He knows everyone respects him – he knows the whole team do. He knows everybody wants him in the team and everyone thinks he has got something different. We saw that the other day.
“There are certain things that Kev does that you can’t teach, and you can’t learn. He just has it.”
