It has been a tough week for England cricket and its supporters. Sacked from the team after a humiliating 0-5 Ashes series loss against arch-rivals Australia, Kevin Pietersen has taken swipe at many stakeholders associated with the English game in his book, KP: The Autobiography.

Former skipper, Andrew Strauss, who captained Pietersen for a significant period of time and whose relations with the batsman soured after Pietersen sent text messages about him to South Africa's players, during their tour of England in 2012, feels that the sacked batsman's tirade against some of his former team-mates might have a potential negative impact on captain Alastair Cook's attempts at forging a new team.

Speaking to Skysports.com, Strauss was worried about the harm that Pietersen's comments might cause to the England team in future. "A lot of this that's going on at the moment is madness,'' Strauss said. "There's been a lot of rumour, innuendo and opinion. I prefer to stick with the facts. All this tit-for-tat stuff, I don't think really helps the England cricket team.

"The victim here really isn't Kevin Pietersen, or (Andy) Flower or (Matt) Prior or anyone; it's actually the England cricket team and Alastair Cook and [returning coach] Peter Moores who've got to try to take the side forward," he added.

Pietersen has spoken about the '