England do not stand a chance of success at the Cricket World Cup due to their refusal to welcome Kevin Pietersen into the fold, Australia legend Shane Warne believes.
Pietersen is England's leading run scorer across all international formats, but is unlikely to represent his country again after being sacked a year ago.
The subsequent 12 months have seen Pietersen regularly aim barbs at former colleagues and ECB management, though the 34-year-old has maintained his desire to make a comeback for England at the same time.
England head into Saturday's World Cup opener against co-hosts Australia with captain Eoin Morgan struggling for form in the middle order.
And Warne believes England do not have the strength in depth required to make a splash Down Under.
"All in all, there's probably six teams really that can win it," Warne told Perform. "I haven't mentioned England and I'm not doing that on purpose!
"I just think they're not playing very well. They've picked a lot better team than they have in the past so they've got a chance. They need their big guns to fire.
"They made 300 the other day and Australia chased it down. Steve Smith got another hundred so you just don't know. They rely on too few think.
"I just think they rely too much on Eoin Morgan. If he doesn't do that well then I don't think they can post the big scores consistently.
"Joe Root's going to be pretty good. I would have liked to have seen Michael Carberry in that side.
"And we all talk about him - we're probably all sick of talking about him - Kevin Pietersen.
"If Kevin Pietersen's in that side and Michael Carberry's in that side too I think it's stronger team."
