London, Nov 12 (ANI): England’s premier batsman Kevin Pietersen insists the seven weeks remaining in 2009 are long enough to prevent it from being a total nightmare of a year.

In January, he was dumped as England captain. Then, in March, Pietersen suffered homesickness during the West Indies tour and, perhaps worst of all, he has been sidelined for four months after an Achilles operation.

His frustration is made worse by his comeback being delayed by two months, The Sun reports.

Pietersen, 29, will miss the Twenty20 showdowns with South Africa, but will then be available for the five 50-over games and four Tests.

Pietersen said: “2009 hasn’t been the greatest year for me. But I can turn that around, I love playing in South Africa.

“It’s so good to be back in an England tracksuit again, to see the boys and to be around the team. I’m really proud of everything they have done - they played some fantastic Ashes cricket.”

“The break has refreshed me, I feel good and really want to hit balls. I just want to get out there and start playing - I’m a competitor.

“I’ve spent the last six weeks in the gym doing as much as I can. I lost a lot of fitness sitting on my couch what with the infection and everything. I was really in a bad way for a couple of months,” Pietersen said.

“I was due to play the one-dayers at home against Australia in September but an infection got in the wound. The surgery was always a success, it was post-surgery that was the problem. I do know what happened but I’ll leave that until the end of my career.

South African-born Pietersen, who first played here for England in 2005, added: “I’ve thought about how the crowd will react to me. The first time I came here, it was pretty hostile. But I’ve been back twice and had some fantastic receptions. Hopefully, they respect the good cricket I’ve played over the last five years.” (ANI)