Andrew Strauss is excited by Kevin Pietersen’s return to the England fold next week ahead of the start of their battle with SA.

The England captain touched down with his team-mates in Bloemfontein on Sunday, but the middle-order batsman was a notable absentee at the start of the two and half month tour.

Pietersen has been recuperating from surgery to his right Achilles tendon - an injury that forced him to miss the last three Tests of this summer’s Ashes - but will link up with his country next Monday, arriving in his native South Africa on Tuesday.

This means he will miss England’s first two warm-up games, the first of which is a 50-over match against the Diamond Eagles on Friday.

However, Strauss, whose side held their first training session on Monday morning, is looking forward to his return.

“I’m genuinely excited about having him back,” he told a press conference.

“We’ve missed his quality, we’ve missed his influence and I also think he’s going to come back very refreshed, hungry and motivated.

“When you have a player of that quality with that frame of mind, you can expect him to go out and play really well.

“We don’t want him to come back before he’s ready, so he’s got to make sure he’s completely over his injury before we bring him back.

“But it’s going to be a great boost for us to have him back in the environment.”

“There is a lot of hard work to be done”

Strauss has played for his country for more than five years now - featuring in two Ashes series wins - but admits that for England to win, they would need to play better than they have ever done with him in the team.

He continued: “That (winning the series) would be an incredible achievement - beating the number one side in the world at home, that’s as hard as it can get.

“But we’re not going to get carried away with ourselves at this stage. There is a lot of hard work to be done if we want to get there and achieve that goal.

“In some ways, if we’re going to achieve that goal, we’re going to have to play better than we’ve ever played in my time as an England player. So it’s a bit of a step up for us and comes at a good time.”

The 32-year-old, who will lead England in the five one-dayers and four-Test series against the Proteas after two Twenty20 internationals to begin the tour, pointed out that one of their focus points over the next few weeks would be to gain consistency.

He said: “I think as a group we understand the extent and the challenge that this tour sets us - playing the number one ranked side.

“This is an opportunity for us to see where we are as a side and also to make some steps forward in terms of becoming more consistent and more able to deal with the best sides in the world on a consistent basis.

“We have some ideas as to how we might continue our development in one-day cricket in particular at this stage, and we look forward to putting those into action in the coming weeks.”

The skipper again brushed aside the issue of possible hostility for the four players in the squad - Strauss himself, Pietersen, Jonathan Trott and Matt Prior - with South African connections.

He added: “I think it’s only an issue if you let it affect you. I’ve been here before, Kevin Pietersen’s been here before, so it’s not something that will affect us.

“For Jonathan Trott it’s a bit of a step into the unknown, but he’s showed great ability to deal with the pressure that goes with playing in a must-win Ashes Test match, so he’s more than capable of dealing with it.

“From our team’s point of view it’s just a non-issue and not something that we ever talk about.”

Kevin Pietersen has backed Stuart Broad to make England fans forget Andrew Flintoff.

Flintoff is playing his final Test for England as persistent knee injuries mean he is unable to continue to play the longer form of the game.

But with Flintoff faltering England have already found a “world class” replacement, according to Pietersen, in the shape of 23-year-old Broad.

Pietersen told the News of the World: “Freddie (Flintoff) has struggled with too many injuries this summer and maybe hasn’t made the impact he would have liked in this thrilling series.

“His retirement would leave a void in any side. But in England’s case, it is one that Stuart Broad, can certainly fill.

“Yes, I know it is a big call. And a big burden of expectation. The last thing Stuart would want or need is to be called the new Freddie. And he won’t be. He’s his own player.

“He has shown in this game - and others - that he can become a world-class all-rounder for England.

“His performance in this fifth Test has shown that he has accepted the responsibility of becoming England’s number one all-rounder now that Freddie is leaving the Test match scene.

“Stuart’s bowling and batting are improving all the time. He is only 23 years old don’t forget, and there is a lot of development yet to come from him.

“But what impresses me most about Stuart is that he has a good cricketing brain. He is clearly an intelligent cricketer, as he showed with his superb bowling on Friday afternoon.

“With Freddie bowing out, Stuart is the future.”

Kevin Pietersen’s participation in the third Ashes Test is under serious doubt because of his problematic Achilles tendon.

The star England batsman is schedule to meet his doctor for yet another injection into his problematic Achilles tendon.

Pietersen has been suffering from a lingering achilles heel for quite sometime and he himself admitted to have taken four cortisone injection before taking to the field in the second Test.

Pietersen has admitted his performance was affected due to the injury as it has limited his batting and fielding.

“It plays on my mind all day. People who have had injuries know that it definitely does affect the way they play. It doesn’t really affect my stroke play but running between wickets and diving around is problematic,” he wrote in the Daily Telegraph.

Pietersen has already had a homeopathic injection and a cortisone injection in the tendon. The next one will be a saline solution with a small percentage of cortisone, which is intended to cushion the movement of the tendon within its sheath.

The procedure is very unpredictable. It can provide a miracle cure, or prove completely ineffective. But the most likely result is that it will give temporary relief, ideally for three or four weeks, which could allow him to avoid surgery in the short term.

Kevin Pietersen is preparing to play on with an Achilles injury which could flare up again and force him to miss matches in Ashes.

The former England captain returned from a recurrence of his injury problems to inspire Sunday’s brilliant 48-run victory over Pakistan at The Oval, which secured the hosts’ progress into the Super Eights stage of the World Twenty20 tournament.

But his on-going injury troubles, which have already forced him to miss the one-day series against West Indies and England’s opening defeat of this tournament to Holland, remain a concern with the opening Ashes Test due to start in Cardiff in just over a month.

Pietersen remains confident

He had two days of treatment and an injection to ensure his participation against Pakistan, and England’s medical staff now believe it may be connected to a back problem which could recur at any time.

But Pietersen remains confident of managing the situation, insisting: “I don’t have any concerns. We have diagnosed what the problem is over the last couple of days, so hopefully now we’ve diagnosed what we think it is, I can get better now.

“Normally it flares up once or twice after a cortisone injection, and it’s flared up once. And if it flares again it will be uncommon but it does happen, and in that case we’ll just take more steps - there are more steps that we can take.”

Pietersen has been advised that only a break of around two to three months - impossible with England’s hectic schedule for the next couple of years - will completely cure it, but is resistant to that suggestion with so many major events coming up in the near future.

England face a one-day series against Australia immediately after the Ashes followed by the Champions Trophy tournament and a Test and one-day series in South Africa, leaving Pietersen and England with little room for manoeuvre.

“What cures is it is two or three months out of the game and that ain’t happening - I’m not missing that,” he insisted. “I didn’t want to miss Friday and I certainly wasn’t going to miss the game against Pakistan.

“I love playing for England”

“I was going to play in that even if I was only 50% fit because I want to play for England. I love playing for England and I didn’t want us to get knocked out of the tournament.

“It’s always impossible to get a three or four-month break anyway - the only way to do that would be to tear a tendon or a hamstring or something like that.”

He added: “It’s a case of managing it on a daily basis now. I’ve played with injuries, I’ve played with broken ribs and the lot and it’s a case of managing what you’ve got and trying to make sure it doesn’t flare up.

“I’m frustrated as anybody because I hate missing any games of cricket. I love playing cricket for England, there’s nothing better than playing for England and being in such a huge tournament here in the UK - it’s huge.”

Bangalore team management will decide whether Anil Kumble or Kevin Pietersen will captain the side in Champions League.

Under leg-spinner Kumble’s leadership, the Royal Challengers Bangalore reached the IPL final where they eventually lost to Deccan Chargers by six runs.

Pietersen was named captain for the first six matches, while Jacques Kallis was tipped to take over when the former England skipper left for the Test series against the West Indies.

Batsman Pietersen presided over four defeats in the first six matches until Kumble, who was unexpectedly handed the captaincy, effected a turnaround.

The run helped the team qualify for the inaugural Champions League which will be held in India from October 8 to 23.

“In terms of team composition for the Champions League we will work on that and choose the best combination,” Kumble said.

“I think everyone would be available for the tournament because there isn’t any international cricket scheduled during that time.

“Kevin (Pietersen) would be back and we would have to make a call on who would be captain because he was announced the Royal Challengers’ captain.”

The Champions League features 12 teams - the top three from the IPL, the top two domestic T20 teams from South Africa, England, Australia and the one team each from New Zealand, West Indies and Sri Lanka.

Jumbo all geared up

Kumble, who returned to his hometown Bangalore on Tuesday, acknowledged that the conditions in South Africa had played a major part in the team’s performance, but believed he was prepared for the challenge the Champions League offered.

“The wickets in South Africa played a huge role not only because it assisted spin, but also because it brought out the best in the experienced players,” he said.

“But the Champions League will be staged in India and the challenges will be different.

“There is pressure in every game and in international cricket you deal with pressure day in and day out whether you are playing at home or abroad.

“There’s still four months to go and there’s a lot of international cricket before that.

“As for me, I’m looking forward to a break and will start training just before the tournament.”

Andrew Flintoff admitted his hefty price tag brings an extra feeling of responsibility as he reflected on Monday’s win.

Chennai thrashed the Bangalore Royal Challengers - captained by Flintoff’s England team-mate Kevin Pietersen - by 92 runs in Port Elizabeth to climb to the top of the fledgling table in the Indian Premier League on Monday.The Super Kings lost by 19 runs to the Mumbai Indians at the weekend but bounced back in style.

Flintoff chipped in with a solid all-round performance, hitting 22 not out off 13 balls in Chennai’s 179 for five, then taking one wicket for 11 runs as Bangalore were bowled out for 87 in reply.

Chennai thrash Bangalore

The 31-year-old told Setanta Sports: “It’s nice to get the first win. For myself, I was a little bit nervous but it all came together and the lads are so pleased.

“I can’t put too much pressure on myself but I get paid that much money so there is a responsibility, but in the middle I can’t think about that.”

Matthew Hayden and Muttiah Muralitharan were the match-winners for Chennai, opener Hayden hitting 65 from 35 balls while spin king Murali took three for 11 from his four overs.

Flintoff continued: “We started well with the bat. Matthew Hayden has retired from international cricket but you can see how good he is.

“Murali’s got thousands of wickets in all forms of cricket. He’s hard to play against and you saw that tonight.”

Dhoni praises his team

Chennai captain MS Dhoni praised his team’s display but admitted slips in the field will have to be eradicated.

“That’s the kind of start that’s needed,” he said. “If we get that kind of start then the middle and lower only need to go out and hit the ball.

“We’re quite happy with the batting and bowling but the fielding we need to improve.”

Regarding Muralitharan’s display, Dhoni added: “It’s great to have a bowler like him. When the wicket is helping him, he’s the type of bowler that will take you through.”

179 was a bit too much, says Pietersen

Pietersen was sanguine about the heavy defeat and chose to laud Hayden’s brutal innings.

“We didn’t really turn up today,” the England batsman said.

“But when you’re playing a bloke like that… we probably didn’t execute but when a genius like him does that, you’ve just got to say ‘well played’ sometimes.

“One hundred and seventy was a bit too much but that’s what happens in Twenty20 cricket. We’ll have to get our heads up now for our third game and make sure we compete.”

Kevin Pietersen was pleased after guiding his Bangalore Royal Challengers to a win over the Rajasthan Royals.

The England batsman made 32 off 30 balls with the bat and marshalled his troops impressively at Newlands as they eventually ended with a resounding 75-run victory.

“For Twenty20 cricket, the IPL is absolutely fantastic,” he said of his first experience. “Obviously, we’d preferred it to be in India with the crowds and fanatical support there.

“But to come to South Africa and have a turnout like there was today in pretty cold conditions as well was absolutely fantastic.”

What made Pietersen’s debut all the more inspiring was that he managed to lift his side in the field after posting a less than daunting total of 134.

But led by veteran spinner Anil Kumble’s five wickets, they managed to dismiss the Shane Warne-led defending champions for an abysmal 58 and the England star admitted that he enjoyed his tussle with his former Hampshire team-mate.

He added: “I’ve never had a problem with the captaincy, it’s all good fun and I really enjoy it.

“Going up against Shane is always interesting, the mind games, but it’s all great. He’s a great man, a great leader of men and I like talking to him about the game, because I learn from him and I watch him.

“Especially as an opposing captain, to watch him and learn that can only help me improve the way I do the job for Bangalore.”

Pietersen hailed the experience of Kumble, saying: “He is absolutely fantastic.

“The man’s a legend, a real genius. You can’t buy that experience in any shop, no shop in Cape Town sells it, no shop in Bangalore sells it.

“So to have in the team with his great experience is brilliant.”

Man-of-the-match Rahul Dravid (66) and Pietersen had earlier helped their team recover from a poor start to post 133 for eight, before Kumble, Praveen Kumar and Jesse Ryder claimed nine wickets between them to dismiss Rajasthan with almost five overs to spare.

The England batsman added: “It is a terrific start to the tournament. The boys played fantastic cricket, we’ve been talking a lot about being patient, especially in the coastal areas with the ball not travelling as far in the Highveld.

“Rahul was outstanding this evening, Jesse Ryder was fantastic in the field and the boys were really happy.

“We saw, myself and Rahul, that it was tough batting out there. He (Kumar) is a fantastic bowler, very clever and Dale Steyn bowled really fast from the other end to make it tough for them. We were good, but we’ve still got some areas to improve on as well.”

Rajasthan captain Shane Warne was disappointed with his side’s performance, but took heart from the not too dissimilar start they made last season.

He said: “Obviously as champions we wanted to impose ourselves on the competition early. And I thought our bowling, a couple of overs at the end with Munaf (Patel) and (Tyron) Henderson, we probably gave them 10 or 15 runs too many. But with 130, all we needed was a half-decent start and I thought we’d win with a couple of overs to spare.

“I wasn’t so disappointed that we got out for 50, but it was the way we got out that was disappointing - just the shot selection and the mindset. It’s very similar to last year when we got embarrassed in the first game, but we managed to come back and win it. Hopefully the same thing happens this time, but we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Warne also paid tribute to his former Hampshire team-mate and captain of Bangalore.

He added: “Kevin and I are friends, he’s played under my captaincy for a long time and knows how I play. But I don’t think that had anything to do with the way we batted tonight.

“He did well, he was probably disappointed he got out for 32 after looking very good at the wicket. But he’ll be very happy.

“Kevin’s obviously a positive person. He would have brought a lot to their group. Bangalore had a pretty ordinary tournament last year, they would have wanted to come out fighting this year and from the way I know Kevin, I’m sure he got the boys revved up and ready to go.”