Tuesday 9 June 2015 15:00, UK
Kevin Pietersen does not think the "door is totally closed" on his England career and says he's in the form of his life after more backing for an international recall from Chris Gayle.
Gayle is set to play in the Caribbean Premier League this summer for Jamaica Tallawahs, while Pietersen will represent St Lucia Zouks as he did last year.
Pietersen was omitted from the England squad due to a "massive trust issue" between him and the ECB, according to Andrew Strauss.
Gayle, a close friend of Pietersen, said on Monday: "He should be playing for England, there are no two ways about it.
"They [the ECB] must have their reasons but we would love to see your best player in action, out in the middle, entertaining.
"It doesn't matter what format - test, 50-over, Twenty20 - he's a class player, one of the best players England has ever produced, but it's your loss.
"KP is looking forward to the CPL. England don't want him? We will take him. He will entertain the fans. We will make some sales off him, sell some tickets. It should be fantastic."
Pietersen said he is performing as well as ever at present and Gayle’s comments add to the growing calls for him to be reinstated.
"Obviously there’s a lot of disappointment purely because of the passion I had for playing for England," Pietersen said.
"I loved playing for England. I don't think that door is totally closed and we'll have to just wait and see and watch where we get to.
“All I can do is just bat and that’s all I want to do. I’ll continue to do that because I feel extremely fresh and I’m batting as well as I’ve ever batted in my career.”
Asked if he felt he could still play for England, Pietersen added: “Absolutely. I wouldn’t be saying this if I couldn’t. I’m in the form of my life.”
Pietersen gave his own support to England ODI captain Eoin Morgan, who claimed his side has to start catching up with the world’s leading nations in the 50-over format.
Pietersen said: "I think it's the brand of cricket Eoin's talking about and I think he's bang on. I think he’s right.
"England were the first team to leave the World Cup in Australia. Afghanistan still played in Australia (after England’s exit) and that shows how desperate and poorly they played.
"The good thing is when you stare at a difficult phase in your life, you’ve got to acknowledge you’re going through that difficult phase and they’ve acknowledged that’s happened.
"The people picked for this one-day series excite me and I’ll definitely watch it. Guys like Jason Roy, (Alex) Hales and the middle order - the Morgan's and the (Jos) Buttler's - are exciting.
"For me, it’s a case of really hoping these guys nail it down. New Zealand are a wonderful one-day team and they got to the World Cup final because they’re a very good side.
"Hopefully they get these guys and give them a long run and don’t just chuck them out if they mess up in one series. They’ve got to blood them and play these guys for 12 months."
