Twitter outburst against Knight holds no concerns for Pietersen

Pietersen launched an attack on Nick Knight last Friday, questioning the former England opener’s credibility as a Sky Sports pundit.

The 31-year-old wrote: “Can somebody please tell me how Nick Knight has worked his way into the commentary box for the Tests?? Ridiculous.”

The tweet is thought not to have gone down well with the ECB, who two years ago imposed a set of guidelines which players must adhere to. Players face being fined if they break the rules, but Pietersen, who was fined following an outburst against selectors in 2010, is not worried his latest comments will see him being sanctioned.

“Not at all,” Pietersen said when asked whether he was worried about being fined. “I haven’t seen (that story).”

When asked whether he would consider toning down his comments on the site, he added: “No, not at all, no. I won’t stop tweeting, no.”

Pietersen was one of the few players to come away with his reputation intact from a torrid winter that saw England suffer whitewashes against Pakistan and India before some pride was restored to the No 1 ranked side in the world when they fought back to draw their two-Test series in Sri Lanka.

The Surrey batsman hit 151 in Colombo and has been successful in the shorter forms of the game of late, but could only manage 32 and 13 against the West Indies at Lord’s, where England emerged with a nervy five-wicket victory.

It was under-pressure captain Andrew Strauss who swung the game in England’s favour with the bat thanks to his score of 122 – his first century since November 2010.

Pietersen, who went two years without scoring a Test hundred, was delighted to see the 35-year-old return to form.

“I never doubted him, most definitely,” said Pietersen.

“Strauss is a fantastic guy and I was more happy for him scoring that hundred than I have been for any other team-mate when they have scored a hundred. I loved the fact that he did that.

“I have been through a period where I didn’t score a hundred for a while and since then I have scored many.

“This sort of thing just happens. Someone is going to get criticised. That’s just what happens in our job. He is a great bloke who has scored 19 Test hundreds and has captained England to home and away Ashes series. It was brilliant for English cricket.”