Pietersen's England dilemma

England coach Peter Moores has already granted permission for the three other Test players involved in the semi-finals, Durham's Paul Collingwood and Steve Harmison and Essex's Alastair Cook, to play in their match at the Riverside, the ground where they are currently engaged in the fourth Test against the West Indies.

But Moores has not yet decided whether to allow Pietersen and Bell to turn out for their counties in the other semi-final at the Rose Bowl, given the distance they must travel to do so and the prospect that, with weather disrupting the Test, they will probably have to wait until Tuesday evening to begin the 324-mile journey.

Moores has been praised by the counties for allowing England's centrally contracted players to play more county cricket this season than his predecessor Duncan Fletcher was inclined to do.

But Hampshire and Warwickshire are anxiously awaiting his decision over whether their star players can turn out for the biggest matches of the domestic season so far.

The counties accept it is unreasonable to expect their players to spend up to six hours driving from Chester-le-Street to the Rose Bowl on Tuesday evening, grab a few hours' sleep and then compete in a 50-overs match the following morning.

The clubs have proposed flying the players from Newcastle to Southampton on Tuesday evening (the 8.35pm flight arrives at 9.50pm).

Yet Moores has decided to delay his decision until he has a clearer picture of how much the Test may take out of them.

Hampshire director of cricket Tim Tremett said: "We obviously want Kevin to play, we have worked closely with Warwickshire and feel the flights offer a workable solution.

"We made a polite inquiry to England for permission to select Kevin soon after the semi-finals were finalised last week but we have not yet had a reply."

An ECB spokesman said: "We have no problem with the Durham and Essex players playing as they are here already. Discussions with Hampshire and Warwickshire over their players are continuing."