KP eyes South Africa international return

LONDON: Kevin Pietersen said Wednesday he has not ruled out resurrecting his international career with his native South Africa even though he’ll be pushing 40 when he requalifies.

The 37-year-old batsman will become eligible to play for the Proteas in 2019 having not been selected for England after being sacked in the aftermath of the 2013-14 Ashes defeat in Australia.

“You are talking about in two years’ time. Would I? Who knows? We’ll have to wait and see where I am,” said Pietersen after smashing a thrilling half-century to lead Surrey to a 10-run win over Essex in front of almost 24,000 fans at the Oval in the Twenty20 Blast in an explosive return to English cricket.

“I’m going to be playing a lot of cricket in South Africa over the next two years, so we’ll see.“I love batting: I will bat for as long as I love the art of batting. I do at the moment, but I’m an old man now, I’ve just hurt my calf, I didn’t field.

“Who knows where I’ll be in two years’ time? If I enjoy batting, we’ll see where I get to. I’m in a very happy place.”Pietersen hit four sixes in an over on his way to 52 off 35 balls in a Surrey total of 150 for nine on Wednesday.

In reply, Essex were restricted to 140 for seven.Pietersen, who suffered a calf injury which prevented him from fielding, was playing his first English domestic match for nearly two years.

He had a lucky escape in the 10th over when he was dropped by Dan Lawrence off Ashar Zaidi and added 43 with Dominic Sibley.Pietersen was eventually out in the 16th over, three balls after reaching his 40th half-century in T20 cricket.

The former captain also criticised England’s top-order batsmen for being too passive during their second Test against South Africa and has called for the inclusion of Jason Roy and Dawid Malan in next week’s third Test.

Opener Keaton Jennings has totalled 44 runs in his four innings in the first two Tests of the four-match series, which is tied at 1-1, while number three Gary Ballance has failed to score a fifty in his last 11 innings.

England cruised to a comprehensive 211-run win in the series opener at Lord’s but new captain Joe Root was given a rude awakening in the second Test when South Africa won by a massive 340 runs at Nottingham to square the series.

“They picked a poor Test-match team,” Pietersen said.“I know they won at Lord’s but that was the brilliance of Joe Root.“There’s individuals that are brilliant, but the collective don’t fire as much as they should and there are some holes in that batting order.”

Root, who replaced Alastair Cook as England’s Test captain, scored a splendid 190 to set up England’s win.While Cook has looked solid during the series, the left-handed opening batsman has in the past been criticised for his defensive approach.“You cannot have a top three that bat as the top three bat or has poor technique, you cannot have that,” said Pietersen. —AFP/Reuters