Pietersen blow rocks England
England's tour Down Under took a devastating turn for the worst on Friday when star batsman Kevin Pietersen was forced to return home with a broken rib.
Pietersen walked into a short ball from Glenn McGrath late on in his innings of 82 as England went down by eight wickets to Australia at the MCG in the opening match of the Commonwealth Bank Series.
Scans at a local hospital confirmed a fracture and the medical assessment suggests he will be out of action for between three and five weeks.
Pietersen, 26, was the one genuine success of the Ashes whitewash, scoring 490 runs, and has been the one-day team's most productive batsman since making his debut two years ago.
England, who will now have to prepare for the World Cup without him, are set to name a replacement within 24 hours.
Pietersen will return to the UK in the next couple of days and begin his recuperation ahead of the trip to the Caribbean on March 2.
England went into the triangular tournament intent on improving an atrocious run of just six wins from their previous 25 one-day internationals against Test-class opposition.
But Adam Gilchrist's latest assault put their 242 for eight into context.
Gilchrist blasted 60 off only 61 balls as Australia's openers put on 101 in 15 overs.
Both Gilchrist and first-wicket partner Matthew Hayden fell to spin in quick succession but Aussie captain Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke showed their class to get the hosts home with 28 balls to spare.
