KP claims 'is going to work' on possible England return

Sacked England batsman Kevin Pietersen has claimed that he is going to try to work on a possible return to the national side after incoming England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chairman Colin Graves refused to rule out a return for the South Africa-born cricketer.

The batsman was sacked in February 2014 but has received encouragement that he might be able to make a comeback by Graves, who said that the first step back for Pietersen was to play county cricket.

Pietersen, who is currently without a county side, said that he is going to try to work this out for sure, the BBC reported.

The South African-born batsman was excluded from the England set-up after the 2013-14 Ashes series, which Australia won 5-0.

ECB managing director Paul Downton appeared to have ended any hopes of a comeback for Pietersen following the release of the player's inflammatory autobiography in October, which was critical of many key ECB figures.

National selector James Whitaker also said at the time that there was no way Pietersen would ever get back into an England team.

However, refusing to rule out a return for Pietersen, Graves said that the selectors can't ignore the batsman if he scores a lot of runs in county cricket.