Kevin Peter Pietersen (born 27 June 1980) is a former England international cricketer. He is regarded as one of England's greatest ever batsmen and renowned for his competitive, and often controversial, nature. He was a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who played in all three formats for England between 2004 and 2014, which included a brief tenure as captain. He won the Player of the Series award for his performances in 2010 International Cricket Council (ICC) World Twenty20 which helped England to win their maiden ICC trophy.
Pietersen was born to an Afrikaner father and English mother in South Africa. He made his first-class debut for Natal in 1997 and moved to England in 2000, after voicing his displeasure at what he said was the racial quota system in South African cricket. Being of English ancestry, Pietersen was eligible for the England team so long as he first served a four-year qualifying period in English county cricket. He was called up by England almost immediately after he completed four years with Nottinghamshire. He made his international debut in the One Day International (ODI) match against Zimbabwe in 2004 and his Test match debut in the 2005 Ashes series against Australia.
Pietersen left Nottinghamshire for Hampshire in 2005, but the England team's subsequent reliance on him resulted in Pietersen making only a single first-class appearance for Hampshire between 2005 and 2010. In June 2010, Pietersen announced his wish to leave Hampshire; he joined Surrey on loan for the remainder of the season, then moved permanently in 2011.
Pietersen was captain of the England Test and ODI teams from 4 August 2008 to 7 January 2009, but resigned after just three Tests and nine ODIs following a dispute with the England coach Peter Moores, who was sacked the same day. Pietersen's relationship with the England Cricket Board (ECB) never fully recovered. This came to a head in 2012 when, after a disagreement over his schedule, Pietersen announced his retirement from all forms of international limited-overs cricket on 31 May. Although he later retracted his retirement, his relationship with both the ECB and his team-mates soured during the series against South Africa, and he was dropped for the final Test of that series. Pietersen last played for England in the 2013–14 Ashes and subsequent ODIs, after which he was informed that he was no longer being considered for international selection.
He also played for the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League (BBL) until the end of BBL|07 (seventh season), the Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League as well as the Hollywoodbets Dolphins in the CSA T20 Challenge. He was also signed by the Rising Pune Supergiants for the 2016 season of the Indian Premier League.
Pietersen is one of the fastest batsmen to reach 1,000 ODI runs and still holds the record for being the fastest player to cross 2,000 runs in ODI cricket. He has the second-highest run total from his first 25 Tests, behind only Sir Don Bradman of Australia, and was the fastest player, in terms of days, to reach 4,000, 5,000 and 7,000 Test runs. He became only the third English batsman to top the ICC ODI rankings, doing so in March 2007. In July 2008, after a century against South Africa, The Times called him "the most complete batsman in cricket" and in 2012 The Guardian called him "England's greatest modern batsman". On the occasion of England's 1000th Test in August 2018, he was named in the country's greatest Test XI by the ECB.
Pietersen was born on 27 June 1980 in Pietermaritzburg, in the Natal Province of South Africa, to an English mother, Penny, and an Afrikaner father, Jannie. Pietersen had a strict and disciplined childhood, along with his three brothers Tony, Greg and Bryan; he learned valuable lessons from this "fantastic" approach to parenting, and said: "Discipline is good. It taught me that I didn't always have to have what I wanted; that what I needed was different from what I wanted." Bryan played club and second XI cricket in England. A forearm injury at 11 years old meant Pietersen could not play rugby, but he played hockey, tennis and squash, which also made his right arm very strong for batting.
Pietersen attended Maritzburg College in Pietermaritzburg, and made his first-class cricket debut for Natal's B team in 1997, aged 17, where he was regarded predominantly as an off spin bowler and a hard-hitting lower-order batsman. After two seasons, he moved to England for a five-month spell as the overseas player for club team Cannock CC, helping them win the Birmingham and District Premier League in 2000. This first spell away from home did not leave him with fond memories for England, in particular "those horrible Black Country accents" referring to a dialect of the West Midlands, living in a single room above a squash court, and working in the club bar. However, he returned to newly renamed KwaZulu Natal team a better cricketer; a lack of opportunities to bowl had improved his batting.
Having seen Pietersen play at a school cricket festival, Clive Rice invited him to sign for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. Pietersen accepted without hesitation, keen to make the most of top-class cricket under a coach for whom he had the utmost admiration. He did not at this stage contemplate forsaking his nation; it had not yet occurred to him that the decision would have to be taken.
Pietersen is widely portrayed in the media as having a self-assured personality, described by Geoffrey Boycott as being "cocky and confident". Former England test captain Michael Vaughan counters this, saying, "KP is not a confident person. He obviously has great belief in his ability but that's not quite the same thing... And I know KP wants to be loved. I try to text him and talk to him as often as I can because I know he is insecure." He has been noted for unusual haircuts, with his peroxide blonde-dyed streak of hair along the middle of his head during the 2005 Ashes series being described as a "dead skunk" look. During the 2006–07 Ashes tour, the Australian team, noted for their efforts to dominate opponents psychologically, dubbed him "The Ego", or "FIGJAM" (Fuck I'm Good, Just Ask Me). Other nicknames include "KP", "Kelves", "Kev" and "Kapes".
Pietersen married Liberty X singer Jessica Taylor on 29 December 2007 at St Andrew's Church in Castle Combe, Wiltshire, with former England team-mate Darren Gough acting as best man.
Jessica gave birth to their first child, a son, in 2010. Pietersen travelled back from touring with the England team in Barbados and arrived at the hospital just in time for the birth. Their second child, a daughter, was born in 2015, and Pietersen took leave from playing for the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League in Australia to be present for the birth.
Pietersen considers South Africa his first home and England his second home, and the family split their time between Surrey and the Sabie River.
He impressed members of Nasser Hussain's England team when playing for KwaZulu Natal in 1999; he took four top-order wickets and, despite batting at number nine, scored 61 not out from 57 balls, hitting four sixes. Hussain then recommended that Pietersen secure a contract with an English county team.
Despite the praise from the England team, Pietersen claimed he was dropped from the Natal first team. Pietersen felt that this was due to the country's racial quota system, in which provincial teams were required to have at least four black players. Pietersen's view was that players should be judged on merit, and described it as "heartbreaking" when he was left out of the team, although he later reflected "it turned out it was the best thing that could have happened". However, in the 1999-2000 Supersport series, from four matches Pietersen only averaged 10.75 with the bat, and took 10 wickets at an expensive 37.50, which were not enough to cement his place in the KwaZulu Natal team. Nonetheless, Pietersen has since firmly criticised the quota system, which he feels forced him out of the country of his birth. He has also criticised Graeme Smith, who became captain of the South African team in 2003, calling him "an absolute muppet, childish and strange" and that his behaviour "leaves a lot to be desired". Smith opposed this, saying, "I'm patriotic about my country, and that's why I don't like Kevin Pietersen. The only reason that Kevin and I have never had a relationship is because he slated South Africa". Pietersen's outspoken views published in his autobiography, Crossing the Boundary, in September 2006, and in an interview for the South African edition of GQ magazine, led to unsuccessful calls for an ICC investigation regarding bringing the game into disrepute.