Strauss “genuinely excited” about having “hungry” Pietersen back

October 18th, 2009 LONDON - Current England cricket captain Andrew Strauss believes the country's best bat Kevin Pietersen can return as captain despite his spectacular fall from grace nine months ago. The Telegraph and the UK Express quoted Strauss, as saying: "I wouldn't rule out Kevin becoming captain again.

October 12th, 2009 LONDON - England captain Andrew Strauss has hinted that he may give a miss to team's Bangladesh tour next year. Strauss, 32, has played nonstop cricket since taking over from Kevin Pietersen in January this year.

October 11th, 2009 LONDON - England captain Andrew Strauss has invited a confrontation with Kevin Pietersen after saying that the ECB is right in using central contracts to regulate its players. Earlier, former captain Pietersen had hinted that he would shun the offer, saying the contracts "are not necessarily going to be things people are going to look forward to." Last month, Ashes hero Andrew Flintoff caused a stir when he rejected a 70,000-pound deal from the ECB following his decision to quit Test match cricket.

October 9th, 2009 LONDON - England's best batsman Kevin Pietersen is raring to go back to South Africa, the land where he grew up, and says that he is more than ready to cop a few abuses, as he sees such diatribe as a compliment and acknowledgement of his cricketing ability. Pietersen hasn't played any cricket since the second Ashes Test at Lord's, but was yesterday named in the one-day and Test squads for the tour to South Africa, which starts next month.

October 8th, 2009 LONDON - England captain Andrew Strauss has revealed that the Royal Armed Forces had inspired him during England's dramatic 2-1 Ashes victory against the mighty Australians. He also revealed how he wore a 'Help for Heroes' wristband throughout the series, which gave him the strength to lead from the front.On the Saturday, we were five wickets down in our second innings and still miles away from making Australia bat again.

October 8th, 2009 LONDON - England captain Andrew Strauss has said that he is hopeful of star batsman Kevin Pietersen making a full recovery to be part of the squad for the winter tour of South Africa. Pietersen has been sidelined since July following an Achilles heel surgery, but is expected to be fit for the series which begins on November 20 in Johannesburg.

October 2nd, 2009 LONDON - England batsman Kevin Pietersen has revealed that his wife was furious over a comment made by him last year, where he said that hitting 100 runs for the country was better than sex. Pietersen said that his wife, Jessica Taylor, " wasn't happy" about his comment "Centuries don't come round very often, whereas sex is on tap, isn't it?" "I said to her, 'Darling, you've just got to compare the statistics, I've got 16 Test hundreds and seven in one-day matches.

September 30th, 2009 LONDON - England cricketer Kevin Pietersen has inked a nearly 2-million-pound deal with Brylcreem. The 29-year-old batsman will be seen endorsing the hair dressing cream in newspapers, magazine and Internet advertisements.

July 28th, 2009 LONDON - England captain Andrew Strauss is worried Kevin Pietersen and other star players will suffer injury or burnout, and could undermine their Test careers if they insist on participating in lucrative Twenty20 events. Strauss and head coach Andy Flower will urge England managing director Hugh Morris to adopt a hard line over players appearing in the Indian Premier League and Champions League in future.

July 22nd, 2009 LONDON - England's star batsman Kevin Pietersen Wednesday predicted the death of Test cricket in a decade. "A few months ago I was so clear in my thoughts that nothing would affect Tests, but then you see what certain players are saying in the media and what kind of players are retiring to continue with the Twenty20 format as well as the riches of Twenty20 cricket," the Daily Telegraph quoted Pietersen as saying.

July 19th, 2009 LONDON - England batsman Kevin Pietersen admitted his achilles injury is always playing on his mind and is affecting his performance in the ongoing Ashes. "To be honest, it plays on my mind all day and every day.

July 12th, 2009 CARDIFF - England batsman Kevin Pietersen and Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson were involved in a heated argument before the start of the final day's play in the first Ashes Test here Sunday. The tiff took place when Pietersen struck a ball that landed where the Australian players were warming up and missed Johnson narrowly.

July 12th, 2009 CARDIFF - Kevin Pietersen has told his shell-shocked England team-mates they must stand up and be counted today to prove they can handle an intense summer of Aussie pressure. "We've put ourselves under a hell of a lot of pressure and it's up to us to stand up and be counted now," News of The World quoted Pietersen, as saying.

July 5th, 2009 LONDON - Former England captain David Gower feels that the challenge for Andrew Strauss in the Ashes series will be how to handle his star players. In his column in The Sunday Times, Gower said that Strauss has to prove that he possesses more traits than those in former English captains Michael Vaughan, Mike Brearley and Ray Illingworth, who all were successful in inspiring their team to beat the Australians in the Ashes.

June 27th, 2009 LONDON - Star batsman KP is happy to accept much of the credit for England's enhanced team spirit and confidence during the past six months. He says he likes being member of a happy team than skipper of an unhappy one, and adds that England are ready to beat Australia in this summer's Ashes, which begins at Cardiff on July 8.