Andy Flower believes England can cope with the absence of Kevin Pietersen after the batsman was ruled out of the remainder of the World Cup. Pietersen will fly home for surgery on a hernia problem but Flower said the potential return of Eoin Morgan would help England move on.Flower, the England team director, acknowledged the team was losing a major player in Pietersen, who was promoted to an unfamiliar opening position just before the start of the tournament.
"He's a world-class player," Flower told Sky Sports News. "I thought he was forming an interesting opening partnership with Andrew Strauss. In three of the four games they've played together they have looked good up front and they put on significant partnerships that have kicked off good batting performances."
Morgan is awaiting ICC approval to play in the competition after being announced as Pietersen's proposed replacement. He was included in the original World Cup squad but missed out after breaking a finger in the build-up to the tournament and Flower insisted that the ability to call on a player of Morgan's quality means the team can move forward.
"We're moving on now and Eoin Morgan is an exciting cricketer. It's going to be good to have him back."
Flower said that Pietersen had been struggling with the injury for some time but remains hopeful that he will return in time for a busy summer.
"He's got a problem and I've seen the scan myself. It's a problem that he has been dealing with for a number of weeks now so he has got to go and get that sorted out and hopefully he will be ready for the first Test against Sri Lanka in the English summer."
Pietersen had earlier revealed he was "absolutely devastated" to be returning home from the World Cup and missing the subsequent Indian Premier League due to an injury that was sustained on England's tour of Australia.
