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Full name Kevin Peter Pietersen
Born June 27, 1980, Pietermaritzburg, Natal
Current age 27 years 325 days
Major teams England, Hampshire, ICC World XI, KwaZulu-Natal, Natal, Nottinghamshire
Nickname KP, Kelves, Kapes
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm offbreak
Height 6 ft 4 in
Education Maritzburg College, University of SA

Batting and fielding averages
	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct
Tests	36	69	3	3283	226	49.74	5204	63.08	11	10	377	41	24
ODIs	71	65	12	2554	116	48.18	2932	87.10	5	18	240	47	29
T20Is	13	13	0	321	79	24.69	203	158.12	0	1	34	8	6
First-class	120	202	15	9565	254*	51.14			33	38			104
List A	179	164	29	5989	147	44.36			10	39			71
Twenty20	23	23	0	577	79	25.08	376	153.45	0	3	62	17	6

Bowling averages
	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	36	20	480	358	3	1/11	1/11	119.33	4.47	160.0	0	0	0
ODIs	71	8	101	106	2	1/4	1/4	53.00	6.29	50.5	0	0	0
T20Is	13	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
First-class	120		5248	3031	59	4/31		51.37	3.46	88.9		0	0
List A	179		2061	1825	36	3/14	3/14	50.69	5.31	57.2	0	0	0
Twenty20	23	7	108	136	6	2/9	2/9	22.66	7.55	18.0	0	0	0

Career statistics
Test debut	England v Australia at Lord's, Jul 21-24, 2005 scorecard
Last Test	New Zealand v England at Napier, Mar 22-26, 2008 scorecard
Test statistics
ODI debut	Zimbabwe v England at Harare, Nov 28, 2004 scorecard
Last ODI	New Zealand v England at Christchurch, Feb 23, 2008 scorecard
ODI statistics
T20I debut	England v Australia at Southampton, Jun 13, 2005 scorecard
Last T20I	New Zealand v England at Christchurch, Feb 7, 2008 scorecard
T20I statistics
First-class debut	1997/98
Last First-class	Somerset v Hampshire at Taunton, May 7-10, 2008 scorecard
List A debut	1998/99
Last List A	Hampshire v Gloucestershire at Southampton, May 4, 2008 scorecard
Twenty20 debut	Durham v Nottinghamshire at Chester-le-Street, Jun 13, 2003 scorecard
Last Twenty20	New Zealand v England at Christchurch, Feb 7, 2008 scorecard

Profile

Expansive with the bat and explosive with the bombast, the South African-born Kevin Pietersen is not one for the quiet life. Pietersen, an enthusiastic, bold-minded and big-hitting No 5, first ruffled feathers by shunning South Africa - he was disenchanted with the quota system - in favour of England; his eligibility coming courtesy of an English mother. He never doubted he would play for England: he has self-confidence in spades but, fortunately, he has sackfuls of talent too. Sure enough, as soon as he qualified in September 2004, he was invited to tour Zimbabwe for that winter's one-dayers, where he averaged 104 in three innings. Success here earned him a late call into England's team against none other than South Africa in early 2005. Undeterred by hostile receptions from the home crowds, he announced his arrival - loudly, of course - with three centuries in five innings, and in doing so demonstrated his peerless eye for the ball and for making headlines, too. On reaching his maiden ton in the second ODI at Bloemfontein, he kissed his badge with unreserved fervour and afterwards announced his next ambition: getting a tattoo of three lions and his England number. Playing at Test level was next on the Pietersen to-do list, and, as a man who puts his money, if not always his mind, where his mouth is, it was only a matter of time. Overlooked for two Tests against Bangladesh, he made his debut against Australia at Lord's of all places, and responded with a pair of hard-hitting fifties in a losing cause. Six dropped catches in the series appeared to have dented his brash confidence, but with the series at stake, he once again showed his unswerving eye for the limelight by clubbing a phenomenal 158 on the final day at The Oval, to secure the draw that England needed for a first Ashes triumph in 18 years. First to congratulate him on his feat was Shane Warne, his good friend and captain at Hampshire, whom Pietersen had joined at the start of the season after three eventful and fractious years at Nottinghamshire. Unsurprisingly, that innings proved hard to live up to, but astonishingly Pietersen managed it, clubbing two more big hundreds in his next two Test innings in England, the second of which - against Sri Lanka at Edgbaston - included a remarkable reverse-sweep for six off Muttiah Muralitharan. In Australia the following winter, he once again lived up to his reputation with hard-earned runs, but his tour ended in disappointment when he flew home with a fractured rib, courtesy of Glenn McGrath after the first match of the CB Series. While England's World Cup was a miserable failure for the team it was a personal success for Pietersen who hit two centuries - including his first ODI ton in a winning cause against West Indies - and confirmed his role as England's leading batsman. His dominance continued against West Indies with a majestic 226 at Headingley - finally beating his previous 158, a score he had made three times previously. It was the highest score by an England batsman since Graham Gooch's 333, and his march towards greatness continued. But then followed the inevitable dip - 10 innings without so much as a fifty - before he bounced back with an uncharacteristically backs-to-wall 129 in England's third Test against New Zealand in Napier.
Jenny Thompson April 2008