Kevin Pietersen says England's World Cup prospects can be salvaged only by axing Alastair Cook as captain and replacing him with a lusty-hitting batsman.
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England won five of their first six series with Cook as full-time captain, which began after Andrew Strauss retired from one-dayers after the 2011 World Cup. But since then they have won only one of the eight series in which Cook has been in charge - and are behind 1:3 in their ninth, a seven-match series underway in Sri Lanka.
The left-hander has gone 56 innings without an international century, having last achieved the milestone in May 2013 in a home Test against New Zealand.
Cook's biggest problems are in one-day cricket. He has not scored a century since June 2012 in that format and since last year's Champions Trophy he has averaged 29.38, scored only one half-century and had a strike-rate of 71.98.
Ian Bell was last week dropped in Sri Lanka despite boasting a superior average (34.21) and strike-rate (90.89) to Cook, who benefits from opening the batting. When Cook was suspended by the ICC for a slow over rate for Sunday's loss in game four the captain's replacement, James Taylor, scored 90 in just his third one-dayer for England.
Pietersen last week tweeted that Cook should play only Tests for England and that Eoin Morgan should succeed him as captain, an opinion he said generated responses "frighteningly in my favour".
On Monday, at his unveiling at the MCG as Melbourne Stars' key recruit for the Big Bash League, the 34-year-old speculated Cook's sluggish scoring was becoming such a hindrance for England that his teammates might be hoping for his omission.
"Everybody in the world of cricket knows Alastair Cook shouldn't be playing for England in one-day cricket. Ian Botham [has said it]. Nick Knight, who sits on the fence with everything, even he's come out and said he shouldn't be playing. And I wouldn't be surprised if his own teammates already think it," Pietersen told Fairfax Media.
"I love to see England winning and England would win more games than they wouldn't if Cook didn't play one-day cricket."
Pietersen, expelled from national duty by England's hierarchy this year largely because they argued he was a negative influence, said his former team boasted some "fantastic players" capable of scoring quickly and heavily at the looming World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
"One of the reasons the ECB don't like me is for the past seven years I've been telling them players ... if they want to get better in the shorter form have to play IPL cricket," he said.
"It's shocking to see what's happening there – but it is what it is. It's all political.
"What pisses me off is they think that I'm bitter, when actually I'm not bitter. I love all those guys in the side but we can all see that there's an issue. Cook shouldn't be captaining the one-day side. Morgan should have the captaincy. Guys like (Alex) Hales, Jason Roy, Moeen Ali ... should be up the top whacking the ball [and then] Ravi Bopara, Jos Buttler."
In the 22 one-day matches England has played this year they have three 300-plus scores: 8-300 versus Australia in Brisbane, 6-306 versus WI in Antigua and 8-316 versus Australia in Perth. Australia, by contrast, has played six fewer matches but reached that milestone on five occasions, with a top score of 6-350 in the mid-year tri-series in Zimbabwe.
"You need to score 300 regularly," Pietersen said, as part of his rationale for Hales and Ali to open for England at the World Cup.
Pietersen said he feared a Cook-led England "might still struggle in a couple of months here [in Australia for the World Cup]". He backed New Zealand to win the tournament.
"I think New Zealand are the best team in the world at the moment ... they're playing brilliant cricket. As long as (Trent) Boult and (Tim) Southee stay fit I think New Zealand are a fantastic cricket team."
