Strauss insists England benefitting from KP's omission

England cricket chief Andrew Strauss said that the decision to exclude controversial batsman Kevin Pietersen from selection has been helping the national side perform better.

Pietersen's hopes of earning an England recall suffered a heavy blow when Strauss, the England and Wales Cricket Board's director of England cricket, told the maverick batsman in May that he would not be considered for an international recall.

Strauss had cited a 'massive trust issue' between him and the sacked batsman as the reason behind the decision to not select him for the Ashes series, which England won by 3-2.

The former captain said that he tried to provide clarity on the issue in order to allow the players to concentrate in the game rather than getting distracted, the Guardian reported.

Strauss further said that the team have moved on from the incident and insisted that they are in a good place. He also said that players such as Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali have established themselves over the past 18 months, adding that their focus would be to develop more such players to take England forward.

England are trailing 2-0 in the ongoing five-match one-day series and will take on Australia on Tuesday in the third ODI at Old Trafford.