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Kevin Pietersen tweets that he wants to play for England again Kevin Pietersen reiterates his hope to play for England again ‘one day’
(about 4 hours later)
Kevin Pietersen has suggested he wants to play for England again in the near future. Kevin Pietersen has spoken passionately about his love of playing at Lord’s and reiterated his hope that one day he will again play for England.
Pietersen, who was at Lord’s on Friday to prepare to play for a Rest of the World side against the MCC, tweeted: “My space reserved in the Lord’s dressing room. Clothes ready! So excited about tomorrow. I didn’t think I’d have this opportunity to play in front of a full house at Lord’s again. I still do hope that things change and I play for England here again. Time will tell...” Talking ahead of the MCC’s exhibition match against the Rest of the World, Pietersen spoke with genuine excitement about the match and how being back at the home of cricket has confirmed his desire to play there again for England.
The message also included a link to Pietersen’s Instagram account and a picture of his shirt and hat in the Lord’s dressing room. “I don’t think it might happen but I live in hope every day, I am only 34, I am still young, I can still play. I got a good résumé,” he said. “If things change one day then I will gladly take the opportunity because I love playing for England. If I didn’t love it I would have retired and I absolutely haven’t retired,” he said. “I have a phone in my pocket and it’s a case of hoping it rings one day. I never lost interest or energy playing for England,” he added. “I love playing for England, every single day I wanted to improve, I had ambitions, I had goals, both personal goals and team goals – they are still there.”
In response to the suggestion that maybe he should play some County Championship cricket for Surrey to demonstrate he is serious about a return, he replied with an emphatic: “No”, adding: “Cricket has never been the issue here. Cricket is not the issue. I’ve played 104 Test matches – I have enough runs to my name. It’s not cricket that is the problem.”
Pietersen retains an interest in the fortunes of his former team, though, offering some thoughts on how the forthcoming five-match Test series against India will pan out.
“I think the batters are going to get a lot of runs because the wickets have died in England. I said it last year, the drainage system in this country has killed the wickets. No matter how green a wicket you prepare, by the second or third session that moisture is gone.
“I know it has increased the amount of cricket that has been played and that is fantastic because people obviously want to see cricket. But also, people want to see good cricket. The wickets we played on in that series three years ago [against India in 2011] were green but they at least had a bit of bounce and they were able to continue through a few days of the Test match, and then Swanny [Graeme Swann] would spin it at the end. The bowlers are going to struggle on these wickets.”
Despite his willingness to talk about England’s prospects, the animosity between him and Alastair Cook, one of the men instrumental in his sacking, is clear and he refused to talk about his former captain when invited to.
He was more forthcoming about Saturday’s match, saying: “It is an incredible occasion and something I am looking forward to, I didn’t think I was going to get the opportunity to play at Lord’s in front of a full house again. But I always had hope. I still have hope to play many more games in front of full houses here at Lord’s. I am only 34 and my body is good, and I have ambitions.”
The match is part of the MCC’s 200-year anniversary celebrations and while essentially a festival, it is a mouth-watering who’s who of past cricketing greats. The two teams will be captained by Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkar with other great names such as Brian Lara, Brett Lee, Adam Gilchrist and Rahul Dravid on display. Pietersen will be captained by his long-time close friend Warne.
Pietersen’s excitement at the prospect of playing on a big stage in front of a full house was palpable: “It is one of these occasions where you sit around and look at the guys you are playing with and the guys you are playing against and I feel like I am a kid in a candy store.”
My space reserved in the Lord's dressing room. Clothes ready! So excited about tomorrow. I didn't… http://t.co/8siijQ41MrMy space reserved in the Lord's dressing room. Clothes ready! So excited about tomorrow. I didn't… http://t.co/8siijQ41Mr
Pietersen was axed from the England squad after the disastrous Ashes tour, with Paul Downton, the managing director of English cricket, saying the 34-year-old had become “disconnected” and “disengaged” from his team-mates. Pietersen hit back, saying “the suggestion that I was uninterested is wholly untrue” and the England & Wales Cricket Board later apologised to Pietersen for Downton’s criticism.
Pietersen will line up alongside Shane Warne for the match on Saturday to celebrate the bicentenary of the current Lord’s ground and has backed his friend to show England what they are missing.
“KP is an absolute match-winner,” said Warne. “He is a superstar and a wonderful player. He is fantastic to watch, I’m sure he will turn it on on Saturday and smash it all over the park. He has played well over the years at Lord’s in his time with England and hopefully he can do that on Saturday.
“With the guys we have in the side they are pretty special and we all have egos but we will all be keen to impress and to show what they have got with the bat or the ball.
“I’m sure one or two players in the Rest of the World side will be keen to get out there and score a lot of runs. It will be pretty relaxed, everyone knows everyone. We want to win, Sachin’s team wants to win so we will enjoy the game.”
Warne and Pietersen will be joined by players such as Adam Gilchrist, Muttiah Muralitharan, Yuvraj Singh and Paul Collingwood, while Sachin Tendulkar’s MCC team includes Rahul Dravid, Brian Lara and Brett Lee.