Surrey captain keen on Pietersen stay
September 02, 2010 12:52:41 UK
Surrey captain Rory Hamilton-Brown wants Kevin Pietersen to make his loan move to the Oval permanent.
Pietersen showed glimpses of his best form as he played for Surrey just 24 hours after his shock exclusion form England's limited-overs squad to face Pakistan, hitting 38 against Worcestershire in a Clydesdale Bank 40 match.
The 30-year-old fell 12 runs short of his first half century in limited-overs cricket for almost four months, as Surrey finished the match 90 runs short of their mammoth target of 376 runs.
Pietersen will be without a county when his loan contract ends and Hamilton-Brown believes that the former England captain's experience could be key to their chances of success next term.
"It is fantastic to have a man of Kevin's calibre come into your dressing room," said Hamilton-Brown, who smashed an impressive quickfire 80 last night.
"He's great to have around and hopefully now he will score some more runs for us.
"I'd love to see him here next year," he continued.
"He's a fantastic player. Our club has a lot of young players and aspiring England players so to get one of the best players in the world would obviously be good for us."
Surrey professional cricket manager Chris Adams admits Pietersen will help the development of his side, but said that he would not be rushing into talks with the South Africa-born star about his future.
"We have a lot of youngsters who are eager and keen to learn, improve and benefit from Kevin's experience," said Adams.
"But at the moment we, Kevin and the ECB are focusing just on the next two weeks.
"We have all agreed that we are not thinking about anything beyond.
"Obviously when the end of the season does come conversations between the relevant parties to discuss what will happen with Kevin's future will happen, but at the moment there is no discussion beyond the end of the season."
The sole purpose of Kevin Pietersen going on loan to Surrey is for him to try and recapture something approaching his best form before this winter's Ashes series Down Under.
Pietersen is 41.00 to be England's Top Team Batsman during the Ashes series 2010/11.
Australia are 1213.00 to win the series on home turf, while England are 1.25 and it is 3.75 that the series is drawn.
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