Cricket: Kevin Pietersen does a U-turn on playing for England

Kevin Pietersen has declared his intentions to represent England in all forms of cricket.

Pietersen retired from the limited-overs forms of the game in June and there was speculation the third Investec Test against South Africa at Lord’s would be his last after his controversial press conference
following the conclusion of the
second match at Headingley.

However, when asked during an interview posted on YouTube last night whether he would return unconditionally to the fold, Pietersen said: “I want to commit to all forms of cricket for England, because I love playing cricket for England.”

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Pietersen wanted to continue playing Twenty20 cricket and retire from one-day internationals, but the England and Wales Cricket Board were insistent that he should play in both short forms or none.

His U-turn has now opened the door for his selection in England’s defence of the World Twenty20, which gets under way in Sri Lanka next month.

“[I’ll play in the] one-day internationals against South Africa in a couple of weeks, the T20 World Cup hopefully if they select me for the squad,” he said.

“The selection policy is with the selectors, but yes, I want to make myself available for every single form of cricket for England.”

The 32-year-old has also had a change of heart about playing a full season in the Indian Premier League.

Pietersen had wanted to miss the Test series with New Zealand next spring to compete for Delhi Daredevils in a move that would have benefited him financially.

Asked if he still wanted to play the full season in the IPL, Pietersen said: “Absolutely not. I’ve taken that all back. I’ve had a conversation with the franchise in India, and I won’t be playing the full IPL.

“I will come back and play the Test matches against New Zealand next year, so IPL is definitely not an elephant in the room any more.”

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Pietersen added: “I’ve had a change of heart because I love playing cricket for England. I love being part of a successful England team.

“It would be sad for me to finish with the way things have been running through the media in the last three or four days. It would be sad to end my career like this.

“So sitting down with my family, my advisers, my close friends, we’ve decided and I’ve decided it would be a lot better to finish my career on a positive note rather than one that’s being developed at the moment.”

The South Africa-born batsman expressed regret for his comments at Headingley and said his morale in the dressing room has now improved greatly after a frank and honest chat with an unnamed team-mate.

“There’s a press conference I did on Monday night which I didn’t
handle the right way. I was very emotional. I am who I am in terms of shooting from the hip,” he said.

“I do make mistakes. The mood in the dressing room was, I think in the last 24 hours, sorted out.

“I had a really, really, really good long chat to a team-mate yesterday. We went through everything. We went through loads of different things and I actually finished that conversation a very happy bloke and someone who can’t wait to meet up with the team on Tuesday.”

The England and Wales Cricket Board are due to name the squad for the decisive third Test against South Africa at Lord’s this morning.

England need to win the match to level the series and preserve their position at the top of the International Cricket Council’s Test rankings.