STUART BROAD HAS denied having any involvement in the parody Twitter account that mocked dropped England batsman Kevin Pietersen.

Broad, the England Twenty20 international captain, and batsman Alex Hales were both accused of having links to the account by Pietersen’s friend and chat show host Piers Morgan.

Pietersen has been axed from the Test side after refusing to deny or apologise for text messages allegedly sent to South African players that criticised England players and management.

Broad issued a statement via the England and Wales Cricket Board yesterday, admitting he knew the man behind the account but had not supplied him with details.

“Following last night’s statement by Mr Richard Bailey that he was responsible for creating a parody Twitter account in Kevin Pietersen’s name, I would like to confirm that I had no involvement in this whatsoever,” Broad said. ”I met with England Cricket managing director Hugh Morris this morning and assured him that I did not play any role in the creation of this account or provide Mr Bailey with any information regarding Kevin Pietersen or the England team.

“As has been widely reported Mr Bailey is a friend of mine, but we had no conversations regarding this issue at all and I am pleased that he has now decided to close the parody account down.”

England host South Africa in the third and final Test at Lord’s, which gets underway tomorrow. The home side must win to level the series and prevent the Proteas replacing them as the top ranked Test team in the world.

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