Pietersen admits recovery is 'slow'

Kevin Pietersen has admitted his recovery from Achilles surgery is proving a slow process but is still targeting a return to action in South Africa this winter.

Pietersen has been sidelined since the end of the second Ashes Test after an operation on the Achilles problem that had troubled him since the tour of West Indies earlier this year and steadily got worse during the home season. He has already suffered one setback when he needed to be admitted to hospital with an infection which set the recovery back and he is still some way off returning.

"I saw a couple of surgeons during the week but it's slow at the moment. I've got an open wound in my leg," Pietersen told BBC Sport while at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. "But I'm really hoping to be back for the South Africa tour at the moment, that's my target now."

Pietersen needed injections to get through the two Ashes Tests he played, but by the end of Lord's he could barely walk. When Pietersen originally underwent the surgery the hope was that he may recover in time for the Champions Trophy, which begins in South Africa on September 22, but now a more realistic comeback is probably the Test series in his homeland which begins in December.

Pietersen has yet to play Test cricket in South Africa, but when he was part of the one-day series in 2004-05 he struck three centuries and overcame a hostile welcome from the crowds.

Before the Tests, England play two Twenty20 internationals and a five-match one-day series against South Africa during November, but they might come too soon for Pietersen even though the England management will be desperate to have him back. While the team coped without him for the final three Tests against Australia to regain the Ashes he has left a huge void in the one-day side which is now 4-0 down after Saturday's seven-wicket defeat at Lord's. They are also without the injured Andrew Flintoff, who is deciding whether to accept the increment contract offer that was made this week.

"It is always hard to be without your two best players but that's the reality we are in," Andrew Strauss said. "It is not going to be changing for a while so other people have to stand up. Hopefully when they do we have got more potential match-winners."