Pietersen ruled out of rest of Ashes

London, July 22: England’s Ashes hopes suffered a severe blow as Kevin Pietersen was ruled out of the rest of the series following a surgery that rules him out of cricket for six weeks.

“As an England cricketer the Ashes are the pinnacle of the game, so I’m absolutely devastated,” said Pietersen. “Up until now the injury has been manageable but it recently reached the point where we needed to look at other options in terms of treatment. I hate missing matches for England and especially during an Ashes summer but I’m confident I can return to the England team injury-free following a course of rehabilitation,” he was quoted as saying in the English media.