Pietersen confirms he wants to quit Notts

After much speculation about his future, Kevin Pietersen has confirmed that he wants to leave Nottinghamshire even though he still has a year left on his contract.

Pietersen, born in South Africa, becomes eligible to play for England next year and is spending the winter at the national academy in Loughborough. He has scored 3,945 first-class runs at an average of 51 during his career and was far and away Notts' leading scorer last season with over 1,500 runs.

Talking to the BBC Sport website, Pietersen said: "I haven't been happy there for a while and I want to leave." He added, "The pitch at Trent Bridge has been one of my problems. I've been doing OK, but I could have done so much better if the wicket had been good."

And he already has one eye on playing for England. "I qualify to play for England in August next year and if I continue doing the things I have done for the past three years, then hopefully things will happen for me," he said. "It's been a huge ambition of mine to play at the highest level and I want to do that for England."

Surrey, Middlesex and Northamptonshire are all reportedly interested in his services for next season.