The splits in English cricket over whether Kevin Pietersen should be in the team or not, are so great it could take years to get over, writes John Payne.

Andrew Strauss’ appointment as the ECB’s director of cricket has only made the position more entrenched with the former England captain citing a “trust issue” with the England batsman.

The timing to make such an announcement could not have been worse, coming in the wake of Pietersen’s career best 355 not out for Surrey against Leicestershire.

It’s hard not to feel sympathy for KP, having been led to believe by incoming ECB president Colin Graves that scoring bags of runs in the county game would count most in his quest to return to international cricket.

Perhaps Graves thought he was calling Pietersen’s bluff, believing he would not turn down the riches of the Indian Premier League in order to make runs for Surrey in more sedate surroundings.

It should be pointed out a Division Two fixture against Leicestershire – the first side to have gone two years without a County Championship victory since the Second World War – does not exactly equate to batting against Australia in the Ashes.

Pietersen now has many more vocal supporters than what looked liked Piers Morgan’s one-man campaign last summer… ex-England captain Michael Vaughan, Freddie Flintoff and the entire set-up at Surrey have all thrown their weight behind the 34-year-old’s England claims.

Meanwhile, the number of fall guys for the team’s on-pitch floundering continues to grow, England coach Peter Moores having followed Strauss’ predecessor Paul Downton in getting the sack.

The choice which Strauss attempted to address this week are stark.

Do they go back to Pietersen and re-open potential “trust issues” or try to draw a line in the sand and move forward without such a divisive figure?

Strauss won two Ashes series as England captain, but you get the feeling he cannot win this time while KP’s shadow looms.