Pietersen sulking over ban on wives & girlfriends during Ashes

London:

The ban on England players wives and girlfriends until six weeks into the Ashes has not gone down too well with mercurial batsman Kevin Pietersen, who is said to be sulking at the prospect of having to stay away from his family.

Pietersen has already made his disagreement with team director Andy Flower's decision by stating that, "This is not something I'm going to comment on. It will get me into trouble."

"They're due to arrive on December 10 or 11. Will I be counting down the days? Definitely. In the last couple of days Dylan has just started to try to sit up. Those are the kind of things you miss, like when he starts crawling, and that's never nice," Pietersen said.

"It's not something I'm looking forward to." The Ashes start on November 25 in Brisbane and Pietersen said he would respect Flower's decision despite not agreeing with it.

"I didn't react well when I heard, but it's not something I'm prepared to get involved in. I respect Andy Flower's decision. I have to," he said.

England captain Andrew Strauss, meanwhile, maintained that the temperamental batsman has agreed to abide by the diktat.

"Kevin is more than welcome to his opinion. We spoke to him about it and he put his views across. He understands where we came from and that the decision has been taken for the best interests of the side and he's more than happy to abide by it," Strauss said before the team left for Australia.

"We, as a group, are not anti-family at all. They provide some normality in what is a very abnormal situation.

"I would never argue that the families are a distraction but, leaving no stone unturned, if one player is kept up the night before the first Test by a jet-lagged kid, that is not giving ourselves the best chance," he added.