England all-rounder Ben Stokes lamented the fallout from Kevin Pietersen’s autobiography yesterday, believing the controversial batsman’s book has taken the focus away from the national team.

Pietersen created shockwaves with the release of his autobiography last month, where he made a number of derogatory claims criticising the England set-up as well as ex-coach Andy Flower and several current and former players, some of whom have since had their say.

While the furore has died down in the last couple of weeks, the issues may be revisited when England travel to Sri Lanka for a seven-match one-day international series, which gets under way later this month. It is something Stokes would be keen to avoid.

“One major thing that I reckon is that it’s taken the eye off the cricket side of things, it’s been focused on the book rather than the amount of stuff we’ve got coming up,” he said.

“We’ve got a World Cup coming up after the new year and we’ve got a massive tour coming up to Sri Lanka.

“We’ve been massively focused on what we’ve got coming up in the next six months and I think the reports can suggest that everything has been based around the book rather than the cricket.”

Pietersen’s remarks came after his sacking by England following the calamitous Ashes whitewash last winter, when Stokes was one of the few to emerge with any credit.

Arguably Pietersen’s biggest claim was that a ‘bullying’ culture existed in the team, led by the bowlers, who, according to the 34-year-old “ran the dressing room,” but Stokes said he didn’t have any part in “what went on behind closed doors.”