Cricket: Kevin Pietersen's England berth is safe

KEVIN PIETERSEN'S international career will not be under threat should he fail to secure a county contract for next season after revealing he will leave Hampshire at the end of the current campaign.

The 29-year-old said the decision was made because he wants to play closer to his London home, allowing him to spend more time with his young family.

Middlesex and Surrey currently lie outside the top flight of the County Championship, with Kent being the closest to the Capital of all the First Division teams. A further complication comes in the lack of appearances Pietersen made while at The Rose Bowl.

The South African-born star's outing against Surrey in the Friends Provident t20 on Sunday was his first appearance for two years. Since signing from Nottinghamshire in 2004 the England batsman has made just seven County Championship appearances for the county.

That lack of availability stems from Pietersen being an integral part of the England set-up across all formats of the game.

Hampshire chairman Rod Bransgrove said: "Given England's critical dependence on KP in all forms of cricket, we have not seen anything like as much of him as we would have liked over the past six years."

An England and Wales Cricket Board spokesman said: "There is no regulation that says a player must be registered with a county to play for England."