Boucher questions Bell, KP omissions

Cape Town - Former South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher has questioned the omission of Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen from England's Test squad for their end-of-year tour to South Africa. 

Pietersen has not featured for England since the 2013/14 Ashes series in Australia, but Bell's exclusion comes as somewhat of a surprise. 

Pietersen is England's leading run scorer across all formats, averaging 47.28 in Tests, and has been vocal on his desire to return to international cricket. 

Bell, meanwhile, is England's second highest run scorer across all formats, but despite his healthy Test average of 42.60 has been struggling for form.

The 33-year-old averages 30.87 in his last 10 Test innings, but he'd have to go back 24 knocks to find his last Test century - 143 against the West Indies in April this year. 

But despite Bell's lack of form Boucher expressed his shock at the decision via his Twitter account. 

Former Proteas captain Graeme Smith, meanwhile, was also surprised at England's selections. 

England Test squad:

Alastair Cook (capt), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Gary Ballance, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Nick Compton, Mark Footitt, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Samit Patel, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, James Taylor, Chris Woakes

Eng without @KP24 and now @Ian_Bell... I may be wrong, but I'm feeling a sudden boost of confidence throughout SA fans. #interesting

— mark boucher (@markb46) November 19, 2015

Very surprised England have selected Ballance for tour of SA.... Thinking our fast bowlers might be licking their lips!

— Graeme Smith (@GraemeSmith49) November 19, 2015