Proteas play down Pietersen texts

No formal approach has been made by the England and Wales Cricket Board to see Kevin Pietersen's infamous text messages, South Africa's team manager Dr Mohammed Moosajee has confirmed.

Pietersen was dropped for this week's third Test at Lord's after failing to reveal the contents of messages sent to South African players during the match at Headingley. The ECB told Pietersen his selection was dependant on him confirming publicly that no derogatory texts about his team-mates had been sent to South African players, or if they had been sent, to apologise for them.

In a prepared statement, Moosajee insisted the messages contained nothing more than "banter" and he refuted suggestions they were sent to Dale Steyn and AB de Villiers.

Moosajee and coach Gary Kirsten then refused to take any questions on the Pietersen situation, preferring to distance themselves from the whole saga.

"There has been untruthful allegations in the media implicating members of our squad in the current issue between Kevin Pietersen and the ECB," Moosajee said. "We stand by the same stance we have taken since we heard the news about these allegations.

"Yes, text messages were sent but like we said before it was banter among team-mates, which is perfectly acceptable.

"The ECB has not made a formal approach to myself or any member of the team to see the text messages, as currently reported in the media.

"Allegations that Dale Steyn and AB de Villiers were the recipients of the texts are unfounded. Until such time that the allegations are met with the correct facts and evidence, we shall not comment.

"The internal issue between Kevin Pietersen and the English cricket board has been publicised for weeks, even before we arrived in the UK and we don't want to get ourselves involved in an issue that has nothing to do with us."