Pietersen prepared to bide his time

There was a time when Kevin Pietersen's form was the be-all and end-all for England, but an evolving side has shown they can win without contributions from their leading batsman. That should give him some breathing space after he admitted to finding it "quite hard" slotting back into international cricket following his four-month injury lay-off.

However, despite a slow start in South Africa, Pietersen is not going to burden himself with undue pressure ahead of the Test series. His contributions since returning to England colours in the second Twenty20 international at Centurion Park - one match ahead of schedule due to a long injury list - have been limited to 85 runs in five innings. In England's two ODI victories he contributed 4 and 3 and looked like a player with plenty of rust to shake off.

That should hardly be surprising after being out of action since July, but such are the expectations that surround Pietersen questions start to be asked when he isn't making the bowler's life a misery. He admits it has been difficult readjusting following the first long-term injury of his career and was denied the chance to relieve some frustrations when rain washed out England's net session at Buffalo Park.

"It's tough when you come back from a long injury, both mentally and physically and also turning up at Centurion and playing that Twenty20 when I wasn't meant to," he said. "It is quite difficult and I'm finding it quite hard at the moment, but I'm doing everything I can to get myself back to where I was.

"But after a four-month lay-off it's going to take time. Players who have been through similar have told me not to put pressure on myself. I've just got to do the hard work and eventually it will pay off. I'm not shy of hard work. This is the first injury I've had and it has been difficult.

"But hard work always pays off and I've been putting in some really long hours. I want to get started with the red ball and this weather is frustrating, but it will take time and I understand that. I won't put too much pressure on myself, it won't happen straight away."

Pietersen's Achilles injury forced him to miss the final three Ashes Tests, but although he wasn't on the field for the winning moment at The Oval he wants to use his past experiences of being in such a situation to ensure England build on the success rather than let their focus slip as happened after 2005. Although this year's Ashes victory was followed by a 6-1 one-day drubbing by Australia the recent signs from England's one-day showings are that they have refocused on challenges ahead.

"The confidence is good, but we know that we aren't going to take our foot off the gas," Pietersen said. "We know that post the Ashes in 2005 we took our foot off the gas and everything didn't go according to plan. There were injuries to big players, but all our injuries seem to be under control at the moment and we just want to go out and play some cricket to carry on where we left off at The Oval."

First, though, they need to get on the field and the dank weather is following England around. After a week where they barely managed to get outside in Durban, East London was being hugged by dense, low cloud with a steady drizzle falling making it feel more akin to England's East London in autumn.

It wouldn't be a surprise if cabin fever is starting to set in among a few of the squad. They will be desperate that the weather clears on Tuesday and remains fine for the two two-day matches against a South African Invitational XI which are vital ahead of the first Test.

"It's been hit and miss on quite a few occasions," Pietersen said. "I haven't been on many tours where we've had two games rained off. It's worked in our favour so far, in terms of results, but we are here to play cricket, we want to play cricket, and it's very frustrating sitting in our hotel rooms.

"But there are a quite a few of us now with quite a lot of experience in international cricket and we'll have to draw on that to get our heads right and when we do get the chance to train we must make use of it."

However, one player who probably won't mind some extra time to put his feet up is James Anderson. He has rejoined the squad in East London having stayed behind in Durban to have a third injection on his troublesome right knee, but it remains to be seen how much of a part he plays in the warm-up matches.