{"id":627010,"date":"2026-04-24T02:54:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T02:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/627010\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T02:54:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T02:54:15","slug":"alastair-cook-kevin-pietersen-feud-reignited-over-jacob-bethells-ipl-fizzer-comments-reaction-county-cricket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/627010\/","title":{"rendered":"Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen feud reignited over Jacob Bethell’s IPL fizzer, comments, reaction, County cricket"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kevin Pieterson<\/a> has reignited a feud with his former captain Alastair Cook<\/a> amid debate over England<\/a> batter Jacob Bethell’s IPL<\/a> fizzer.<\/p>\n

Bethell made a breakthrough century in the final Ashes<\/a> Test in Sydney, and was selected for Royal Challengers Bangaluru<\/a> for this year’s tournament.<\/p>\n

However, the tournament will reach its halfway point on Saturday, and Bethell is yet to play a match.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Koroisau hit with monster ban set to ruin Origin return hopes<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Ennis breaks silence on ‘tough’ Dragons sacking<\/a><\/p>\n

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Speaking on the Stick to Cricket podcast, Cook said it would be in Bethell and England’s best interest for him to return to the UK and play county cricket.<\/p>\n

“He’s not doing anything \u2026 ideally he should come back and open for Warwickshire to help England,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Kevin<\/p>\n

Kevin Pietersen and then-England captain Alastair Cook in Adelaide in 2013.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

But Pietersen wasn’t having it, and fired back on X that staying in India would make Bethell a “way better player”.<\/p>\n

“Alastair Cook has absolutely NO IDEA what it’s like to be in the IPL, what it’s like to always be around the best players in the world,” Pietersen said.<\/p>\n

“So his opinion on Jacob Bethell doesn’t matter at all. Stay in India, Jacob. I know, even though you’re not playing, you’re learning and will be a way better player.”<\/p>\n

Pietersen and Cook famously fell out after the latter ended the former’s England career following the 2013-2014 Ashes series, in which Cook was captain.<\/p>\n

Another user replied to Pietersen’s post agreeing with Cook, and asked what Bethell could be learning by “sitting on his arse every game”.<\/p>\n

Pietersen replied with a list.<\/p>\n

“By practicing with the best players in the world. By watching very closely the best players in the world. By speaking to the best coaches in the world.<\/p>\n

“By building life long friendships with the best players in the world. By acquainting himself with India so that whenever he tours India, it’s easier for him.<\/p>\n

“If you think playing a county game in Derby in April is better for his development, I can’t help.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Jacob Bethell scored a breakthrough century in the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Bethell was batting at first drop when he scored his ton in Sydney, but Cook believes he could also open.<\/p>\n

Bethell on the Sky Sports Cricket podcast said he “firmly” believes staying in India is the right call, despite a lack of game time.<\/p>\n

“I feel better now than I was a month ago, just from getting time around the guys over here and the pure standard of cricket in India and the IPL,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Every nets session you’ve got hundreds of eyes on you – be it your coaches or the other players who are looking at you going ‘Is this guy good? Is he not?’<\/p>\n

“You’ve also got the people in the crowd with their phones on. You get exposed to a lot of stuff.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kevin Pieterson has reignited a feud with his former captain Alastair Cook amid debate over England batter Jacob…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-627010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}