Strauss: Tweet responsible

Adelaide - Captain Andrew Strauss on Thursday urged his England team to use the micro-blogging website Twitter responsibly after Kevin Pietersen branded Adelaide Oval groundsmen as "pathetic".

The star batsman was annoyed when practice pitches were uncovered during a sudden burst of rain in Adelaide on Wednesday, forcing the tourists to train indoors.

Pietersen later used Twitter to express his displeasure.

"What should a groundsmen make sure he does 2days out from a test match????" Pietersen wrote. "Cover the nets when it rains maybe? "PATHETIC!".

Strauss said Pietersen was frustrated because he wanted a long session in the nets to hone his batting ahead of Friday's second Ashes against Australia.

"I think Kevin was just frustrated because he wanted to have a long bat yesterday and he wasn't able to do that, so he vented a bit of frustration," he said.

Strauss was asked at his match-eve press conference whether he expected team guidelines on the use of Twitter to be adhered to after it was decided not to impose a total ban on the squad from posting messages on Twitter during the Ashes series.

"We've got a set of guidelines for our players and we fully expect them to adhere to those as much as possible," Strauss said.

"I wouldn't prefer all of my players to be exactly like me though, it would be a very boring dressing room.

"Everyone's different and a lot of the guys really enjoy it and it is a good way of broadening the appeal of the game, there's no doubt about it.

"It allows players to be in contact with people who support the game so there's some real benefits to it, but it has to be use responsibly and by and large it has been.

"We need to make sure we only have any more instances of the likes of what we've seen previously."

Strauss said Pietersen had not crossed the line with his latest remarks on Twitter.

"No, he didn't, but obviously there are kind of degrees of everything and we don't want anything that distracts our attention from what's important, which is getting on the cricket pitch and performing," he said.

"I don't think he realised when he put it on there. He was more frustrated.

"All I can say is that the groundsman and authorities in Adelaide have looked after us exceptionally well. We've got no qualms with them whatsoever and we're interested in competing well in this Test match."

Pietersen is one of several England players who regularly use Twitter, with others including James Anderson, Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad.