Future of Test in hands of grounds men: Pietersen

London, May 17 (ANI): England's star batsman Kevin Pietersen has insisted that the five-day version of the game needs to be spiced up, pleading with grounds men that the future of the game is in their hands.

The huge popularity of the shorter Twenty20 format and the mega cash on offer for players in the lucrative Indian Premier League have cast a dark cloud over Test cricket.

Pietersen warned the only way Test cricket can survive is for pitches to be prepared in a way that will produce a result - rather than the usual boring draws, The Sun reports.

Pietersen declared: "I've talked to players all over the world about this and for the future of Test cricket grounds men must start producing result wickets. What needs to happen for Test cricket to stay at the top is grounds men need to prepare wickets which encourage a contest between bat and ball.

"Test matches need to be exciting and too many in recent months have not been. In the Pakistan versus South Africa series both sides were scoring six or seven hundred runs. That's crazy," he said.

"Then in the Caribbean when we were out there this winter it was more of the same. No one wants to watch that and it's not much fun to play in either.

"Some of the wickets we have played on recently have been too flat and very batsman friendly. I'm a batsman so I don't mind but that means long, hard spells for bowlers to bowl and field," Pietersen added. (ANI)