Kevin Pietersen has provided to double up his time as England’s white-ball marketing consultant to assist subsequent yr’s bid to win again the Ashes.
Talking for the primary time about his shock return to the fold in a mentoring capability, Pietersen revealed that he had already held talks with new Check coach Stephen Fleming about working with the batsmen forward of making an attempt to wrest again the urn from Australian fingers in 2027.
Household vacation plans, plus his commitments to his YouTube channel The Change imply he’s unlikely to be out there in the course of the 5 Check sequence subsequent June and July, however the four-times Ashes winner might be in England’s surroundings upfront of that – becoming a member of the limited-overs excursions of Australia and South Africa this winter.
‘I’ve had a dialog with Stephen Fleming, however I do not suppose that essentially signifies that I should be in a dressing room,’ Pietersen stated.
‘There’s a variety of time within the lead-up to an Ashes sequence. There’s a variety of time within the lead-up to the tour of South Africa, the place I’ll be with the Check batters in Australia, and there is conversations that may be had there.
‘Inside a event, I can not do something. There’s nothing I can do, however I’ve definitely had conversations with Flem, who I completely love, about language that he would love me to make use of with the Check batters, going into South Africa, after which definitely into the summer time subsequent yr.’
Kevin Pietersen (proper) has provided to assist England’s Check facet as they appear to win again the Ashes subsequent yr
Pietersen being recruited by the England and Wales Cricket Board once more 12 years after his sacking, amid strategies that following a number of inside fallouts one among England’s biggest ever cricketers had develop into unmanageable, was essentially the most left-field of calls. And much more exceptional on condition that Brendon McCullum, closely criticised by Pietersen for his teaching surroundings in early 2025, was the instigator.
Nonetheless, reflecting on the then and now, he stated: ‘I am 46, man. That stuff’s so lengthy gone. I am a very totally different individual, too. I am simply right here to assist Brendon firstly.
‘And I am right here to assist the gamers attempt to develop into the very best variations of themselves. I have been fortunate to have worn each T shirt an England cricketer can put on. The nice, the unhealthy, and the ugly. And so there are components to all of their careers, which I believe that I may probably assist (with).’
Pietersen even concedes he was unsuitable when he lambasted England’s work ethic throughout final yr’s tour of India, suggesting they weren’t within the nets sufficient.
‘The notion of Staff England after I got here in was not nice, however notion shouldn’t be all the time actuality, and the truth that I see is nice,’ he stated.
McCullum stated one of many sights of Pietersen – signed up on a deal till the top of the World Cup in his native South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia in autumn 2027 – was his capability to be opposite.
‘He simply stated: I do know you’ve got been tremendous important of stuff that we have carried out beforehand, however I might love you to return into the rooms, and I might love to listen to opinion on sure issues,’ Pietersen revealed.
‘I’d take a few of it. I may not. And I am like, I am going to give it to you as a lot as I can when it comes to what I believe is correct in conditions with gamers, with technique. And in order for you it, you’ve gotten it.
Pietersen has been working with England’s white ball crew this summer time however is eager to assist
‘I am not sitting right here eager to be the coach of England. He is the coach of England.
‘If I may help him, in his journey and his pursuit and in our pursuit to be aggressive subsequent yr, then it is a win.
‘So we have got 12 months to plan, to study, to win, to lose, like final evening, and hopefully study from shedding.’
Pietersen was a meticulous notice taker as a participant, forming differing methods to play throughout codecs and conditions. Few to have performed for England have been pretty much as good at figuring out moments to counter-attack. Fewer nonetheless to take action with pictures that scythed by means of the normal teaching guide.
‘I keep in mind again after I was a child, and I came to visit right here, and I performed with Greg Blewett, Chris Cairns. I keep in mind taking part in in South Africa, taking part in with Jonty Rhodes and Lance Klusener, Shaun Pollock, watching Malcolm Marshall as a child, being in and round these environments, having Clive Rice as a coach for Notts after I came to visit, an absolute hero,’ he added.
‘So my accountability is simply to be a terrific individual to those guys. And that is the 46-year-old me, all I need to be is a superb individual to those guys.
‘My boy’s 16 years of age now, so I’ve seen loads, I’ve carried out loads, and I simply need to attempt to be the very best dad in a home. I need to be the very best man within the room for these guys, in order that they arrive to me, they usually ask me for data, and if I’ve obtained stuff for them, I am going to give it to them.’
