Pietersen has blamed county for England's current state, but backed new leadership for comeback

England are going through the worst phase in the longest format of the game. In the recent past, the Englishmen have failed to put up good performances, and as a result, England have won just one of their last 17 Test matches. 

Analyzing the team's performance, the former England skipper Kevin Pietersen delivered a shocking statement. The veteran blamed the county cricket for churning out the poor quality cricketers.

Kevin was involved in an interaction where he candidly spoke about England's future under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum. The right-hander believes that McCullum's mentality and line of thoughts incline with Rob Key and Ben Stokes. 

"Delighted with England's Brendon McCullum appointment. I think his brand of cricket will be along the same lines as what Rob Key and Ben Stokes want. It's also what the paying public want to watch," Pietersen said while speaking on Betway Insider.

The former skipper is hopeful of seeing a new and better England in the coming three-match Test series against New Zealand. He also backed the new leadership tank to infuse positivity into the team. 

"Something needed to change, and this is positive change. England will now have lots of discipline but also be encouraged to play naturally. Don't be scared, don't be timid; go out and do your thing. 

"McCullum also isn't scarred by England's recent failures. He only knows positivity, and he's only known success as a leader of a Test team after his time as captain of New Zealand," he added.

Further in the interaction, Pietersen opened on the standards of county players. The legend thinks that the English players haven't been playing up to their potential, and county cricket has a big role to play in it. 

"Even though the rest of the squad is quite similar, hopefully, McCullum and Stokes can get them playing better cricket. I don't believe that these aren't the best players in England; I just think that the standard of players coming out of the county game is poor. Hopefully, McCullum can get more out of them," the former English batter concluded.