Mark Boucher surprised over ECB's decision to omit Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen

Johannesburg: Former South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher has expressed his surprise over the omission of Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen from England's Test squad for the upcoming series against South Africa.

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

Veteran batsman Bell, who is England's second highest run scorer across all formats, has been struggling for form. He has averaged 30.87 in his last 10 Test innings, Sport24 reported.

Meanwhile, maverick batsman Kevin Pietersen has not represented his country since the 2013/14 Ashes series despite averaging 47.28 in Tests.