Pietersen questions England's sense of direction

Kevin Pietersen has questioned whether England know where they are going, saying their focus on one-day cricket risks alienating fans who care more about Test success.

The past two years have seen a vast improvement in England's limited-overs form, with a team that suffered an embarrassing first-round exit at the 2015 World Cup now top of the one-day international rankings.

The form of Eoin Morgan's side has been a huge boost to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), who have staked a lot -- including a contentious rejigging of the domestic season -- on England winning the World Cup for the first time when the 2019 edition takes place on home soil.

But England's white-ball rise has been accompanied by a dip in their Test results, with Joe Root's men going down to a 4-0 Ashes defeat in Australia before a 1-0 series reverse in New Zealand.

England have prided themselves on being a tough Test side to beat in their own conditions but had to battle back to share a two-match series against Pakistan 1-1 after a thumping nine-wicket loss in the first Test at Lord's.

And Pietersen said one-day success was being prioritised to the "detriment" of England's Test-match form.

"I don't know which direction they want to go in," former England batsman Pietersen, who helped the side to a number of notable victories, said today.

"We won a T20 World Cup, we won the Ashes home and away, we beat India in India a few years ago," added the 37-year-old ex-England captain, who scored over 8,000 runs including 23 hundreds in 104 Tests at an average of 47.28.

'Big Tests will continue'
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"The big series will continue to exist, the Ashes will be fine, India v Pakistan, Australia against South Africa."
"Australia are always the pantomime villain, no doubt the English are going to go after them, but that's the nature of the beast, they always go after us when we go there."