Pietersen plays down captaincy ambitions

Kevin Pietersen: 'I'm just one of the troops' © Getty Images

Kevin Pietersen insists he is quite happy just being one of the troops in England's one-day side, despite suggestions from some high-profile pundits, including Graham Thorpe and David Lloyd, that he should be offered the one-day captaincy in place of Michael Vaughan.

Writing in his column on Teletext Sport, Thorpe suggested that Vaughan should retire from one-day cricket in a bid to prolong his Test career. "Some people may find this surprising but I'd like to see Kevin Pietersen take over as one-day skipper," added Thorpe. "I believe it could be the making of him. You need people with that hunger to play ODIs, and I think Pietersen could inspire a new-look one day team."

Pietersen did not rule out the prospect of one day bidding for the captaincy, but insisted that for now his weight was firmly behind Vaughan, who made an emotional return to the Test team at Headingley last week, where he made his 16th Test century. "It's definitely something that you think about," said Pietersen. "In the future it would be magnificent to captain my country, but I've clearly stated that Michael Vaughan is the captain of England.

"I get on really well with Michael," said Pietersen, who was unveiled as Adidas's new signing at a sponsored event in London. "He's a really good friend of mine, and during some of his dark days in the 18 months he was out [of the side] I used to text him and ring him and say 'you'll be back'. His leadership is fantastic. Vaughan is captain of England and I'm very happy being one of the troops."

For the time being, Pietersen is quite content to concentrate on his batting, with which he scaled new heights last week with his maiden Test double-century. In the world Test rankings, only Ricky Ponting and Mohammad Yousuf are now rated above him, and he admitted that Ponting in particular was a player he looked to as a role model.

"Ricky Ponting is a serious player," said Pietersen. "He's achieved everything in the game, and that's what I want to do. I've watched legends of the game like Viv Richards and Everton Weekes. But I can only really comment on guys I've played against, and he's the one I look to."

But, for all the allure of big scoring and the personal glory that comes with it, Pietersen insisted that he wasn't bothered about pursuing Ponting's No. 1 ranking. "That's not really my focus," he said. "I just want to win Test matches for England, and fulfil my role for the team. That's all I'm interested in. I just want to keep working harder and harder, and helping England win matches."