England Are Better off Without Kevin Pietersen

Kevin Pietersen is once again in the headlines after claiming England captain Eoin Morgan "would love" to have him back in the side, but the fact remains that they're better off with him on the sidelines.

According to Matt Butler of The Independent, Pietersen claims he is wanted back in the team by Morgan.

Whether this is true or not, Pietersen is a divisive and distracting influence in the team. At this point, Pietersen has burned too many bridges in the England camp to ever return, even if the team was desperate.

The 34-year-old was dropped in 2012 for sending derogatory texts about then-captain Andrew Strauss to opposing South Africa players.

South African-born Pietersen was then sacked by the England and Wales Cricket Board in February 2014, after courting further controversies amidst England's whitewash 5-0 Ashes defeat.

KP's subsequent autobiography did little to encourage reintegration with his team-mates, as he described a "bullying culture" in the England dressing room and attacked several players, per Paul Hayward of The Telegraph.

Indeed, Strauss was highly critical of Pietersen's attitude, per BBC Sport: "He seemed to be at best destabilising and at worst undermining our carefully cultivated team environment."

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And, according to the Daily Mail's Paul Newman, Strauss admitted that Pietersen's comments in his autobiography had an adverse effect on the team: "We all worked incredibly hard to achieve something special and it doesn’t seem so special anymore... Everyone was dreading what was going to be in the book."

If KP has maintained hopes of once again playing for England, he should have held off on publishing the book until after he had retired from the game altogether. 

Even if his claims—which have been strongly denied—are true, airing out the team's dirty laundry in public created serious rifts. Even if he apologises for his comments, the idea of him being welcomed back with open arms by the entire team is beyond reason.

Not to mention a return would see an unnecessary media storm surround the team. Hardly what they need as they prepare for the World Cup in February.

Aside from his disruptive nature off the field, England are currently coping fine on the field without him.

England have kicked off their tour of Australia in style with two heavy wins. First came a score of 364-6 over an ACT XI in Canberra, before following it up with a 391-6 score to beat the Prime Minister's XI.

Ian Bell's 187 runs off 145 balls was a particular highlight, with the Warwickshire County man smashing 20 fours and three sixes:

Moeen Ali and James Taylor also managed 71 runs apiece, so England's batting lineup appears to be in good form.

Stuart Broad had nothing but praise for his team-mates on Twitter:

Per The Telegraph, Broad recently spoke to BBC Radio 5 Live's Sportsweek programme, and believes that an England return for KP is neither likely nor necessary:

"

He's not played any red-ball cricket for a year so I don't think a return in Test matches is very likely and he's not set the world alight in white-ball format either.

The three Test matches we won in the summer against India were probably the strongest performances I've played in the 74 Tests I've played, and they were without Kevin Pietersen. The guys who have come in—Joe Root, Gary Ballance—have been the shining lights of the England team.

"

Pietersen is England's fifth-highest runscorer in Test cricket with 8181, but averaged under 35 in his final 12 tests. Having been out of international action for so long and now 34, there's little to suggest that a return for KP would see him make a significant positive impact on the team.

England are moving on, and it's time Pietersen did the same.