Kevin Pietersen has paved the way for a summer of potential embarrassment for the ECB after agreeing to rejoin Surrey in an improbable bid to regain his Test place . Pietersen will be available for the county across all three formats but will focus on the four-day Championship as he attempts to force his way back into the England team following his sacking a year ago . Confirmation of his Surrey return is expected on Thursday . Another remarkable news cycle for the English game began with Pietersen telling Test Match Special listeners he would do ‘ anything ’ to play international cricket again . Kevin Pietersen will return to Surrey in the summer to play in the LV= County Championship . 29 - Pietersen ’ s average in the 5-0 Ashes drubbing in 2013-14 , the last series he played . That is well below his Test average of 47 . 20 - months since he last played a first-class match for Surrey . 19 - months since his last century in any form of the game , 113 against Australia at Old Trafford . 39 - his highest score in the T20 Blast for Surrey last season . In 12 innings , he averaged 22 . That comment prompted English cricket ’ s beleaguered powerbrokers to close ranks once more . Going into a summer in which England desperately need to reconnect with their fans and regain the Ashes , the ECB fear Pietersen will act as a non-stop , hard-to-silence distraction . Test captain Alastair Cook , in Abu Dhabi for the season ’ s curtain-raiser on Sunday between MCC and Yorkshire , was quick out of the blocks . ‘ There ’ s been a hell of a lot of stuff happened with his book , ’ he said , ‘ so he is unlikely to come back into the team. ’ England selector James Whitaker , who would have preferred to focus on Wednesday ’ s announcement of the Test squad for the Caribbean , told Sky Sports : ‘ We haven ’ t had discussions at all about Kevin . This last 12 months we ’ ve been successfully rebuilding the Test team and he ’ s not part of our plans . ‘ We ’ ve produced some good middle-order players with Gary Ballance , Joe Root and Ian Bell continuing to perform well , so we are happy with where we are in the middle order. ’ Pietersen has hinted he could change his IPL contract in a bid to push for an England place . Both Whitaker and ECB managing director Paul Downton — the man behind last year ’ s controversial sacking — have repeatedly insisted Pietersen will never play for England again , a fate that appeared to have been sealed by the publication in October of his score-settling autobiography . But Pietersen , desperate to add his England-record tally of 13,797 runs and 32 centuries , seized on a stray comment made this month by new ECB chairman Colin Graves , who said the ‘ first thing he has to do if he wants to get back is start playing county cricket ’ . But Graves was simply stating the obvious : affiliation to a county is the minimum requirement for anyone with England hopes . But , emboldened by what he regarded as the first stage of a peace offering , Pietersen took every opportunity to state his desire to play for England once more . After playing for the Big Bash League 's Melbourne Stars , Pietersen has signed with the Sunrisers Hyderabad . Surrey were initially wary of resuming ties with a cricketer who turns 35 in June but Pietersen has often been at his best when he has had a point to prove . And the prospect of a hatful of Division Two runs as Surrey push for promotion prompted director of cricket Alec Stewart to bring him into a middle order alongside Sri Lankan veteran Kumar Sangakkara . County bowlers may not agree , but the move is a smart one . As long as Whitaker , Downton , coach Peter Moores and Cook remain in situ , it is inconceivable that Pietersen can resume his international career . But assuming he manages to extricate himself from his £200,000 IPL deal with Sunrisers Hyderabad , as well as a contract with St Lucia Zouks in the Caribbean Premier League , that means he could be available for most , if not all , of the county season . The nightmare scenario for the ECB officials who have stated their position so unequivocally is a glut of runs for the man they continue to consider persona non grata . Kumar Sangakkara appeared to confirm Pietersen 's return to Surrey this season after Sri Lanka bowed out of the World Cup with a convincing defeat by South Africa . The call from his many fans on social media for Pietersen ’ s return would grow — especially if England fail to put a disastrous World Cup behind them as they embark on an absurd programme of 17 Tests in 10 months . On Wednesday Pietersen told TMS : ‘ If I can do anything that can help me get back into it for England then it ’ s something I want to do . I love playing for England. ’ His best hope is the sacking of all the men who object to him — and for that to happen England would need to perform terribly in the Ashes . In other words , the only plausible scenario that can rescue Pietersen is one he can not be seen to hope for . Not for the first time , English cricket and Kevin Pietersen find themselves engaged in a tense Catch-22 . Pietersen has not played for England since the Ashes tour of 2013-14 after which he was dropped .
ben Pietersen will sign up for Surrey in the LV= super Championship . The move could extend his contract with the IPL 's Sunrisers Hyderabad . He will play alongside Sri Lanka World cricket star Kumar Sangakkara . he is working as a pundit for the BBC 's cricket Match committee .