‘England won’t be weaker without Pietersen’

England off-spinner Graeme Swann has insisted the side will not be weaker for the absence of Kevin Pietersen for this week’s third Test against South Africa at Lord’s. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) told Pietersen his selection was contingent upon him either confirming publicly no derogatory texts about his team-mates had been sent to South African players or, if they had, to apologise for them. Swann was adamant the furore would have no impact upon a Test starting on Thursday that England must win to retain their world number one ranking in the five-day game. “We need to pull in the same direction, not 10 of us doing it and one of us not,” Swann wrote in his column for The Sun on Tuesday.