KP rules out return as captain

LONDON: England batsman Kevin Pietersen has ruled out the possibility of returning as captain for this year's Twenty20 World Cup, having resigned as Test and one-day skipper in January in controversial circumstances.

"I just think it's too soon after what happened between me and the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) for me to take over the captaincy again if I was offered it for the Twenty20 World Cup," he told Friday's Daily Mail in an interview in Barbados.

"It's not somewhere I want to go and dive into. After the way I was let down I just don't think I want to get involved in that again. Being England captain means you have to be a politician and that's something I'm not.

"My England captaincy was not the England captaincy I wanted, that's what will live with me for a long time."

Pietersen quit as skipper after less than six months following what the ECB described as an "irretrievable breakdown" in his relationship with coach Peter Moores, who was sacked on the same day. He was replaced as captain by Andrew Strauss.

The 29-year-old said he had offered little advice to Strauss during a disappointing tour in the Caribbean in which England have managed just one rather hollow victory in the first One-day International when West Indies miscalculated their target in a rain-affected match.

The two sides were meeting in the third one-day match in Bridgetown on Friday with the five-match series level at 1-1.

"I haven't offered much advice on this tour to Strauss nor have I been asked for it," Pietersen said. "It's been too close to the bone in terms of what happened in January and that has made it difficult for me to get involved in decisions. I haven't wanted to step on his toes."

Pietersen said the dressing-room had been a "happier place" since the sacking of Moores and his resignation as captain but said results on the pitch were not good enough and that he was ready to go home.