Published: Sunday August 12, 2012 MYT 9:12:00 AM
Cricket: Pietersen commits to England
LONDON: Kevin Pietersen wants to commit to England in all three forms of cricket, ending speculation he would quit tests after the final match with South Africa starting on Thursday.
The 32-year-old had retired from one-day cricket in May but said in a video released on Youtube on Saturday that he would like to be considered again for 50-over and Twenty20 international cricket.
"Yes I'm wanting to play all three forms of cricket for England again," he said. "The one-day-internationals against South Africa in a couple of weeks and the T20 World Cup hopefully if they select me in the final squad."
It remains to be seen if the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will pick him for the upcoming one-dayers, especially September's Twenty 20 World Cup in Sri Lanka after he was left out of the provisional squad.
Pietersen, England's most explosive batsman, had raised the possibility of quitting England altogether with comments after last week's second drawn test with South Africa where he shone with the bat.
On Saturday, he referred to his comments as "mistakes" and also confirmed he would not play in the whole Indian Premier League season with Delhi Daredevils next year and would make himself available for England, a sticking point with the ECB. "I've had a change of heart because... I love playing for England," he said. "It would be really sad to end my career like this."
Speculation about dressing room tensions linked to a Twitter parody account of him, as well as fearing he was playing too much cricket and his desire to cash in from the IPL, were blamed for his thoughts of retirement.
However, Pietersen said in the video that the mood in the dressing room was now "sorted out" after a long chat with a team mate who had made him feel "a very happy bloke". -Reuters
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