Kevin Pietersen Says He'd Keep Five England Players After Disastrous Ashes Series

Kevin Pietersen says that only five England players have done enough to keep their places in the Test squad after the 4-1 Ashes defeat in Australia.

Australia won the fifth and final Test in Sydney by five wickets on Thursday.

England had earlier set them 160 to win thanks to a superb maiden Test century from Jacob Bethell, who scored 154.

But their first-innings score of 384 was shown up as significantly under-par when Australia racked up 567 in reply.

There have been bright sparks during the Ashes series, with Joe Root scoring two centuries - including 160 in Sydney - and Jofra Archer picking up an excellent five-wicket haul in Adelaide.

Archer offered captain Ben Stokes much-needed control with the Kookaburra ball in hand until he picked up a series-ending injury in Adelaide.

But England's bowling otherwise too often lacked a consistent line and length, typified by Matthew Potts being selected for the fifth and final Test before being smashed for 141 runs off just 25 wicketless overs in the first innings.

Decision-making while batting has also come in for criticism, with Ben Duckett averaging just 20 without a half-century and being exposed over his failure to leave the ball outside off-stump.

Jamie Smith and Harry Brook were placed under the microscope over several of their dismissals, with Australia's Justin Langer describing Smith's tennis-like shot to deep cover in Sydney as 'one of the dumbest shots you'll ever see in Test cricket'.

The Surrey wicket-keeper did score a stylish 60 in Adelaide as England unsuccessfully attempted to chase 435, but then mistimed a lofted shot to wide mid-on.

Brook came in for particular criticism over his dismissals in the opening two Tests, though did hit 84 in the first innings in Sydney and was arguably unlucky to have been adjudged lbw when he was on 43 in the second innings.

Ashes tours Down Under almost always leave some England players fearing for their Test futures, with Ollie Pope (who was dropped for Bethell after Adelaide), Shoaib Bashir (England's 'number one' spinner who didn't play a game) and part-time spinner Will Jacks (who was ineffective with the ball) most likely to be at risk.

Pietersen knows all about that end of the coin, having been sacked by England days after their 5-0 defeat in Australia in 2013/14.

He was also part of the first England team to win in Australia in 24 years in 2011, and won three home Ashes series.

Taking to Twitter, Pietersen claimed that only five players have done enough to stay in the England Test team after the latest Australian defeat.

"I'll help with the thorough investigation that the ECB are going to conduct, right here, for free," he wrote.

"Apart from Stokes, Root, Archer, Bethell & Brook WITH a brain, the team isn't good enough to compete with Aus or India.

"It's proven just on this tour with Aus missing most of their best players.

"All the pre-tour game chat, discipline chat and now investigations, they are now mere distractions.

"It's very simple, as I've stated above."

One player arguably unfortunate not to be named by Pietersen is Josh Tongue, who took 18 wickets at an average of 20.11 in just three Tests.

Tongue's unique bowling angle made him a threat to the outside edge of Australia's batters, while he got the ball to nip in and bowled Steve Smith with a superb inswinger in Melbourne.

The 28-year-old now has 48 Test wickets in nine matches, and has been selected in England's T20 World Cup squad.

Pietersen added that Glamorgan opener Asa Tribe, who scored 731 runs in 11 County Championship matches this season, should be considered for a spot in the Test squad.

Tribe, who was born in Jersey, hit 129 not out for the England Lions against Australia A last month.

On the 21-year-old, Pietersen wrote: "Whilst I'm on England - there's an English batter here in SA [currently playing in their franchise T20 competition] called Asa Tribe. Watch him bat please."