Pietersen explores batting consultant roles

As the Ashes takes shape in Cardiff, Kevin Pietersen is 4500 miles away playing for the St Lucia Zouks in the Caribbean Premier League. While his thoughts on all things English cricket are well worn enough to be known by every fan of the sport worldwide, it is rare to hear Pietersen talk about his experiences as a travelling T20 batsman, how the format is evolving and where the shortest format sits in relation to the Test game.

By Pietersen's own admission he can live without fielding, but the art of batsmanship still excites him. As he reaches the end of his playing career - he celebrated his 35th birthday last month - he says is duty bound to pass on what he has learned.

"Your responsibility when you finish is to hand over your knowledge and that is what I have been doing a hell of a lot," he said. "I did it at Big Bash, I've done it at the IPL and I am doing it here at the CPL and it is just amazing.

Pietersen takes pleasure when he hears his Zouks team-mate, Andre Fletcher, and others like him, describe him as a role model.

"I had a wonderful opportunity working with him last year and adding a hundred and whatever stand the other day against Barbados Tridents batting together. It is just so cool that you can spend time with youngsters like that and grow people's games and make people feel a lot more confident about the job that they are doing."

When Pietersen does call time on his career he says he is attracted to the role of batting consultant. He says discussions are under way although he would not be drawn on with whom. What he is very clear about is that when he does give up playing he is not interested in a coaching role in the year-round slog that is international cricket.

"There are so many other things going on with business and my life that I can never, ever commit to being on the road 24/7 as a coach of an international team. There is no chance: that is not something that I am interested in. But I would be interested in speaking - and I have been speaking to some set-ups - about doing consultancy work which brings me in for a few weeks at a time and helps out with young batters."

Despite having played 127 Twenty20 matches all over the world, Pietersen says he is still learning, and that the process of information-sharing with young batsmen teaches him as much about his game as it does them about theirs.

"Absolutely, you never, ever stop learning. And it is amazing that when you go and spend time with a youngster it just brings back memories of how you played and it also brings back simple techniques that you may have forgotten about and you think 'I can actually do that now'. I have started doing some of the drills that I have taught others to do.

"It is amazing that you think you know everything but that is when you come unstuck in our great game. The stuff that you might have forgotten and you take for granted when you are teaching somebody younger than you and learning the ropes, it brings back brilliant memories and simple basic techniques that you need to perform."

Pietersen is wary of comparing the different franchise tournaments that have popped up around the world, but it is interesting to hear how the events in Australia and the West Indies differ from the IPL. But it seems that the CPL's reputation for freedom is well earned.

"I don't like comparing the competitions because they all bring positives to the domestic structure, but, yes, there is a lot more freedom at the CPL. It is similar to the Big Bash where you do whatever you want.

"You can go out, you can spend a day on a boat, you can go play golf. You can go and party. You can spend a lot of time with friends. You've got the freedom to be yourself. Obviously in the IPL it is a lot more strict. I wasn't there this year but it seems from all reports that it was pretty much ring-fenced and sort of closed off which players don't like."

Speaking of the Big Bash, Pietersen says that playing in Australia when it isn't an Ashes contest could not be more different.

"Of course, it is hugely different. My relationship with the Australian public now is an amazing one because I am part of the Australian family in terms of the Melbourne Stars, the commentary stints that I did there, and just being about to play as a local in their local league, growing their league, growing their franchises and being attached to something that the Australians take to over a great period of the year.

"I have always loved Australia, but obviously in the heat of an Ashes battle it is quite different, but being part of a franchise and having a home in Australia it is totally different.

"I had such a positive reception whenever I walked out to bat, if I was commentating, if I was on the boundary, It was totally, totally different. I don't think they saw me as just a pom, I think they saw me as someone who was there to entertain, somebody who was there to encourage the franchise system, somebody who was there to positively influence the game in Australia."

Pietersen has recently been made captain of his CPL side with the news that Darren Sammy will miss the rest of the tournament with a fractured hand. His association with T20 cricket and the franchises it has spawned grows year on year. Despite this he says Test cricket should remain the way that players are judged.

"I think in terms of the not too distant future you will see guys definitely picking T20 ahead of 50-over cricket. I think that the guys that play Test cricket and have great careers in Test cricket are duty bound to talk positively about Test cricket because no one cares about your numbers in T20 cricket, no one cares about your numbers in one-day cricket.

"People do care and your true test of character and your judgement amongst your peers is on your Test cricketing ability, not how you whack a little spinner or medium pacer in a franchise tournament.

"It is how you deal with Test conditions. That is when you get tested - in Test match cricket - and that is where you are ranked by your peers. When you walk around the breakfast room of a hotel you don't get judged on your T20 numbers you get judged on your Test numbers."