Kevin Pietersen will make a rare return to the England set-up as a ‘specialist mentor’ for his or her white-ball groups forward of subsequent 12 months’s 50-over World Cup, 12 years after his worldwide enjoying profession got here to a controversial finish.
Pietersen’s position in Brendon McCullum‘s assist employees will start later this month when England play six white-ball fixtures (three T20Is and three ODIs) towards Sri Lanka. He has beforehand coached with Delhi Capitals as a mentor at the IPL, and briefly labored with England’s batters throughout an ODI collection in South Africa in early 2023.
Pietersen has in any other case labored primarily as a broadcaster since his enjoying profession led to 2018, and was crucial of McCullum’s England surroundings for his or her slack strategy to coaching after they toured India in early 2025 – criticism that McCullum rebuffed as “factually incorrect”.
In an interview with Cricinfo, Pietersen additionally described himself as “bitterly disenchanted” when Harry Brook, England’s white-ball captain, pulled out of his IPL contract in 2025, denying them the prospect to work collectively. “He has a flaw enjoying spin in India – an actual large flaw,” Pietersen stated. “Two months right here, think about what might need occurred if he had fastened that?”
The ECB stated in a press release that Pietersen had been employed partially due to his native information: “Having grown up in South Africa, Pietersen’s information and understanding will significantly assist the One Day Worldwide group because it prepares for subsequent 12 months’s World Cup which is being performed in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.”
Pietersen will miss England’s ODI tri-series in Pakistan in October, however will probably be concerned on excursions to Australia and South Africa over the winter, then in house collection towards Pakistan and New Zealand main into the World Cup in October-November 2027. He’ll be a part of his former England team-mate Marcus Trescothick, alongside Tim Southee, Jeetan Patel and Sarah Taylor in McCullum’s teaching employees.
It was simply over a decade in the past that English cricket washed its palms of Pietersen, with Andrew Strauss – then England’s director of cricket – citing a “massive trust issue” between him and the ECB after he was dropped. In the identical breath, Strauss revealed that Pietersen had declined the provide of a white-ball ‘advisor’ position, much like the one he has now taken on.
The controversial finish to Pietersen’s worldwide profession didn’t cease him being a hero to many gamers of their white-ball set-up, with Brook, Tom Banton and Will Jacks amongst them. They may now have the prospect to work intently with him over the following 15 months.
“I’m immensely proud to have been requested to assist this group on their journey to win a World Cup in South Africa,” Pietersen stated. “Placing on the England uniform once more for the primary time since 2014 is a profound honour and a deeply particular second.
“We’ve got an extremely gifted white-ball squad, and I’m excited to get within the trenches and work relentlessly laborious with these gamers to maximise their potential. To be part of Brendon’s thinktank over the following 12 months is a unbelievable alternative, and I can’t wait to get began.”
Pietersen and McCullum performed towards each other 24 instances in worldwide cricket from 2007-13, and likewise spent two PSL seasons as Quetta Gladiators team-mates in the direction of the tip of their enjoying careers.
“I’ve received immense respect for KP and what he is achieved within the recreation,” McCullum stated. “He is had an incredible affect on English cricket, so for somebody together with his expertise, information and stature to need to play a task with this group is a unbelievable end result.
“I am significantly excited for our batters to get the chance to work with him. KP has a novel understanding of what it takes to carry out on the highest stage, which will probably be massively precious to our gamers. We have at all times revered one another and had a powerful appreciation for what the opposite brings to the sport, so I am actually wanting ahead to working collectively.”
