Pietersen injury scare for England

Kevin Pietersen has been withdrawn from the Hampshire squad and added further injury concerns to the England camp © Getty Images

Kevin Pietersen has handed England another injury scare ahead of the first Test against West Indies after being ruled out of Hampshire's County Championship match against Lancashire with a calf strain.

Pietersen picked up the injury while fielding during a match against Ireland in the Friends Provident Trophy on Monday. He batted with a limp but still went onto score an unbeaten 66 without the aid of a runner as Hampshire chased down their target. However, after an MRI scan he has been withdrawn from the four-day match. The ECB said a further assessment of his injury will be made later in the week.

Pietersen wasn't scheduled to play any more cricket before the first Test following the Lancashire match so even if the injury doesn't prove serious he will be short of match time. The contest had been billed as a head-to-head with his England team-mates Andrew Flintoff, James Anderson and Sajid Mahmood who are all due to line-up for Lancashire.

England are set to name their squad for the first Test at Lord's on Sunday with Michael Vaughan expected to miss out with the broken finger picked up against Hampshire last week.