“Let’s just be clear – I want to play for England again so I am sure if it (the offer) is genuine, I would love to be given that opportunity”
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Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen has announced that he is ready to talk with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) after incoming chairman Colin Graves stated that there is a chance he could make his international comeback.
Pietersen has not represented England ever since the board axed him following the national team’s disastrous Ashes tour of Australia in 2013-14.
“I was pleasantly surprised this morning actually,” Pietersen told Sky Sports. “The previous chat was clearly that I had been banned from playing for England and that I would never play for England again, which for me was incredibly sad. I do feel my England career was cut short and taken away from me at 33.
“You have a look at the guys like (Kumar) Sangakkara, (Tillakaratne) Dilshan, all these guys scoring runs, they are late on in their 30s and it doesn’t mean that somebody can’t still perform at the best of their abilities.
“It’s one that I will have to have a think through.”
In order to make his international comeback, Graves made it clear that Pietersen will have to play county cricket.
This means that Pietersen may have to make some big changes in his future commitments, especially since he recently signed up to play in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and Indian Premier League (IPL).
“I said that to Surrey when I was told there was no future for me in English cricket and the MD of English cricket (Paul Downton) had said that I was banned…so I had to look for different ventures,” he said. “This has only happened in the last three of four hours. I’m not going to hassle anybody on a Sunday, I’m certainly not going to hassle Colin on a Sunday, but I’ll definitely want to speak to the ECB.
“Let’s just be clear – I want to play for England again so I am sure if it (the offer) is genuine, I would love to be given that opportunity.
“I’ll need to go away and make some decisions. I’ll need to speak to some people and I’ve spoken to a couple of them this morning already. But this is really encouraging.
“It’s decisions like that I’ll have to make this week. This is not about money. I live very happily. This is a clear case of wanting to know whether or not there is a genuine appetite out there. Do I want to play for England again? Absolutely.”
Pietersen also noted that he was ecstatic when Graves talked about creating an a new domestic Twenty20 tournament.
“I’m absolutely so positive and buzzing about the new regime that’s coming in,” Pietersen said. “It’s heartening to see English cricket looks like it’s going to go in a positive new direction.”