Swann claims death threats after England flop

England spinner Graeme Swann said Friday he had received death threats via Twitter following his team's 5-0 drubbing by India in the recent one-day series.

A memorable year for English cricket ended on a downbeat note on Tuesday, when England lost 10 wickets for 47 runs as India wrapped up a series whitewash over Swann and his team-mates.

Writing in The Sun on Friday, Swann said he had received threatening messages from irate English fans unhappy at his team's performance.

"Although I don't condone death threats on Twitter, I could almost understand it when I had a couple of hundred people threatening all manner of retribution after Tuesday's match," Swann claimed.

"Not everyone in cyberworld has a perspective - after all, it is only a game of cricket. But you can almost understand why people get wound up.

"It can't be easy to watch us, not just losing but losing the way we did."

Swann meanwhile insisted that England's poor performance in India had nothing to do with the publication of his autobiography which saw him aim several criticisms at team-mate Kevin Pietersen's ill-fated stint as captain.

"England have endured a horror month but I can state right now it has nothing to do with what I wrote about Kevin Pietersen in my book," Swann said.

"People have claimed my observation that KP is not a natural leader and should not have captained England has caused dressing-room divisions and a breakdown in team spirit. Well, anybody who thinks that does not know this England team."

"The reason we lost the one-day series 5-0 to India is because we've been outplayed in conditions which suit the home team. No excuses, we've been hammered.