He's not held a cricket bat on an international playing field for months now, but Kevin Pietersen has a lot of focus on him as England go into a highly anticipated series against South Africa. Pietersen should receive a 'warm' welcome from South Africans when he joins up with the England party next week, but don't expect that to bother him one bit, writes Brian Viner in the Independent.

Now he is five years older and wiser, witness the disappearance of that preposterous white stripe from his hair. It has been replaced, moreover, by an eminently sensible Brylcreem bounce, which augurs well, because the last Brylcreem Boy to play cricket in South Africa, in 1948-49, scored what remains the fastest triple century in first-class cricket.