Pietersen wants to dominate world cricket

Tuesday, 16 August 2011 00:20 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Kevin Pietersen wants England to ruthlessly rule world cricket just as past great Australian dynasties did.

England have climbed to the top of the International Cricket Council’s Test rankings and Pietersen now wants to bury all opposition.

“When the great Australian and West Indian teams played for years and years, they killed opposition,” he said.

“I played against that Australian team in 2006 in Australia. I promise you, every day’s play of those Test matches you weren’t looking forward to it because you knew you were going to get dealt with.

“That’s what I hope we can do to opposition.”

Pietersen said a series whitewash of India, the nation they deposed at the top of the rankings, would be a perfect place to start England’s period of world domination.

“That is a huge target, because I played against Australia when we did get hammered and it’s a horrible to place to be,” he said.

“If we can inflict a similar defeat on India it would be amazing for us.”

The South African-born batsman believed England had the talent and motivation required to stay ahead of the rest.

“I think we have proved that by winning in Australia and then coming back to England and beating India in England,” he said.

“We’ve got a real good structure in place and great people in place as well - the management and players.

“You look at the number of games people have played, you look at the number of hundreds we’ve scored, look at the wickets the boys have started to take.

“We actually look like one of the senior teams in world cricket right now, whereas two, three, four, five years ago there were a couple of players who were experienced but we had a lot of inexperience too.

“So I think we’ve got all departments covered.”

The polarising Pietersen does not claim everybody playing under captain Andrew Strauss are bosom buddies.

But on the field they were, more than ever, team England.

“You don’t need friendships, as long as you’re performing on the field, you don’t have to love everybody in the team,” he said.

“In the great Australian sides ... not everybody loved each other.

“I’m not saying none of us like each other - we actually very, very much like each other in the dressing room, and there’s no jealousy.

“The boys are so happy when someone does well.”