Flintoff says 'extraordinary' Pietersen needs to score 'lots of runs' to make England comeback

Former England captain Andrew Flintoff has said out-of-favour batsman Kevin Pietersen will need to produce an outstanding performance in the county cricket by scoring 'lots of runs' in order to make his international comeback.

Pietersen, who won 104 Test and 136 one-day caps for England, has been out of the national squad since his central contract was cancelled 13 months ago by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) following the team's Ashes washout by Australia.

Describing Pietersen as 'extraordinary talent', Flintoff said that he has gone back to Surrey, adding that if he has got ambitions of playing for England, he would have to make his case by scoring lots of runs, the BBC reported.

Pietersen's attempt to return to the national squad received a major boost when incoming ECB chairman Colin Graves had indicated that the sacked batsman's return was possible. He had said that Pietersen would need to secure a county deal and post some good run tallies to have any chance of returning to the national team.

However, Flintoff believes that international return wouldn't be a cake walk for Pietersen.

The former Ashes hero said that one doesn't just walk into an England team as they have got Gary Ballance at three, Ian Bell at four, followed by Joe Root and Ben Stokes, and Jos Buttler, who could be England's AB de Villiers.