Pietersen teaching England how to face spin, says Brook

England’s players have been learning how to play spin from Kevin Pietersen, captain Harry Brook said, as he hailed the former Ashes and Twenty20 World Cup-winning batter’s impact on the side.

Pietersen, England’s third-highest run scorer across all formats, was appointed as a specialist mentor to the white-ball teams this month, in the lead-up to next year’s World Cup.

In the 46-year-old’s first series as part of the set-up, England completed a 3-0 whitewash of a spin-heavy Sri Lanka side to replace India at the top of the Twenty20 world rankings.

“KP has been very good,” Brook told reporters on Monday. “He’s enjoying the role, he’s enjoying himself … He was a hero to many of us growing up, so it’s good to have a man of his calibre in our side.”

The 27-year-old said Pietersen had held a masterclass for the squad on playing spin, adding:

“A lot of it was about picking the length of spin. That is key to facing spin and being able to rotate strike as well as possible.“In ODI cricket that’s an area we probably need to improve as a side. It can make a massive difference to winning games of cricket.

“He (Pietersen) was a hell of a player against spin, alongside (Joe) Root and (Marcus) Trescothick.

They were very good players at playing spin, so it’s about picking their brains and asking them what worked for them and putting that into your game.“

England next host Sri Lanka in a three-match one-day international series, beginning later on Tuesday.

“We can take a hell of a lot of confidence from being unbeaten in the T20s,” Brook said.

“Going into this ODI series we want more of the same. We’re trying to play a higher-octane style of cricket and put them under pressure with bat and ball.

“We want to be one of the fittest sides in the world. To do that, we’ve got to work hard on and off the field. We are trending in the right direction. There are a few touches here and there which we can improve.”