Nottinghamshire will fight to keep Pietersen

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Kevin Pietersen: 'I cannot play for Notts any more' © Getty Images

Nottinghamshire have insisted that they will fight to keep hold of Kevin Pietersen after reports that he had said that he would never play for the county again.

Pietersen has one year of his four-year contract remaining, but originally asked to be released last September. Nottinghamshire have been understandably reluctant to agree to his request, and now Pietersen is believed to be considering taking legal action to force their hand.

Mike Newell, Nottinghamshire's director of cricket, told the county's website that he was standing firm. "We don't want Kevin to go and the club is very confident of its position. Basically, we don't think Kevin has a legal case.

"We have not received official notification of him taking us to a tribunal, and have no idea of the grounds on which he might take us to court. Instead we maintain there is no reason why he should leave because he is still under contract at Trent Bridge for another season.

"No-one denies that an incident took place at the end of the season between Kevin and Jason Gallian but I don't discuss internal disciplinary issues," Newell continued. "Suffice to say that Jason has since apologised to both Kevin and myself. In any case, the situation with Kevin is not just down to one issue or incident but a series of factors over a period of time and there is also a serious point of principle at stake here.

"We don't think he should be allowed to walk out on his contract when we don't want him to go, and those circumstances would apply to any player. We, for example, couldn't turn round to a player with a year left on his deal and do the same thing to him, so why should this be any different?

"Notts have tried to stay loyal to the player throughout, but we'd be lying if we said we weren't very disappointed with his attitude. He is frustrated with a number of things, including our form last summer, but plenty of good players have to battle away in similar conditions. They don't just turn around and suddenly jump ship."

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