The four-time Ashes winner spoke to
The overriding reason for England losing the Ashes is the ECB's decision four years ago to target ODI cricket, and relax when it comes to Test cricket. I never, ever agreed with that decision as Test cricket is the pinnacle and we need to do everything we can to preserve it.
When I put a poll out on Twitter people responded by saying they'd rather win the Ashes than win the World Cup.
I’ll ask this question again now we’ve been hammered by the Aussies.
— Kevin Pietersen🦏 (@KP24) September 9, 2019
What would you have preferred to win?
I’m ASHES all day long!
What's happened now is a consequence of what happened four years ago with Andrew Strauss and his team at the ECB and look at how the public feel now!
Jack Leach mickey-taking must stop
It’s doing my head in that a bloke who's supposed to win games for England is becoming a laughing stock. You've got people in the stands taking the mickey out of him, wearing masks and fake glasses and commentators are talking about his Specsavers deal.
England are losing an Ashes series and he's only taken eight wickets at 30 in three Test matches.
I don't want to see the crowd talking about how funny he is, or how funny that run was, or Specsavers. I want to see him producing on the field and I want to see him winning matches for England with his bowling.
Ashes 2019 - Fourth Test - England v Australia.
File pic
When we beat Australia, Graeme Swann took big wickets for us. For Australia, Shane Warne and now Nathan Lyon take big wickets.
We had Monty Panesar. But Monty, who everybody laughed at when he fielded the ball, knocked over the likes of Tendulkar and Sehwag.
When we beat India in India, he and Swann bowled beautifully. Yes, some people laughed, but he was still doing his job.
Jack Leach isn't doing his job.
Does he want to be remembered as this funny guy who can hold a bat, or as a match-winner for England?
The knives are out and everybody's looking for somebody to be the sacrificial lamb. There will be people who lose their jobs because of England losing the Ashes.
I first captained England in a dead rubber against South Africa in 2008. We had to change because Michael Vaughan relinquished the captaincy and I was just chucked in, but suddenly everybody did feel fresh.
I don't think Root's going to lose his job. I don't see anybody else captaining England, so I think the chat about him not captaining England is silly until somebody shows me who else could do it.
Bairstow, Stokes, Buttler, Burns or Broad are not suitable – so there are no other options, but there should still be changes to the team to freshen things up.
England's Ben Stokes returns to the pavilion after being dismissed during day five of the fourth Ashes Test cricket match between England and Australia at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, Sunday Sept. 8, 2019. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira)
I don’t know whose brain spark it was to leave Woakes out of the Old Trafford Test, but they probably don’t deserve to be a selector anymore. Bringing in Overton ahead of Woakes, after everything Woakes has done this summer with the bat, with the ball and after the World Cup he had, was a bad decision.
Rory Burns and Jason Roy
I played with Burns for a number of years at Surrey have been very impressed him. He trains hard, has his own technique and he backs it.
He's done a really, really nice job at the top of the order. It's nice to see that he has got that mental fortitude and fighting spirit to do things that may not look authentic but get the job done.
Burns has solidified that spot, but there are still problems with the other opening position.
I don’t think Jason Roy has helped himself at all, even at number four.
As positive as I have been about Jack Leach, – and I hate to say it – his technique isn’t good enough for Test match cricket at the moment.
I'm not saying that he can't get there, because I think he's an amazing player, but you can't go hard at the ball. You’ve got to learn to defend straight, play with soft hands and pick the way the bowler's bowling the ball.
If Pat Cummins is starting to swing the ball in you've got to change the way you play and adapt to situations.