Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen has said that he is "annoyed" after seeing Ian Bell dropped from the Test side.

The Warwickshire man has been left out of the squad for the forthcoming tour of South Africa following a disappointing series against Pakistan.

Pietersen, whose England career ended last year, says that he does not understand why the 33-year-old has not been selected.

"I'm sitting here very annoyed," he told Breathe Sport. "How can you take somebody who has played over 100 Test matches, and you've got the biggest series of the year coming up against the number one side in the world, and you can drop him, leave him out of the tour?

"That's absolutely ridiculous. I understand how people say 'he might have not scored some runs for a while,' but you're going to play South Africa, in South Africa against one of the best bowling attacks that's bowled over the last few years.

"You have to take him for his experience, you just have to take him. You cannot drop him before this. If he doesn't score runs after South Africa then I can sort of understand it, but I just do not get the thinking behind this."

Bell has scored 7,727 runs at an average of 42.69 in his 118 Tests for England.