Pietersen stands by controversial comments

Kevin Pietersen has refused to back down from his claim that racism in South African cricket forced him to pursue his career in England, despite being reprimanded by the ECB.

His comments prompted a demand from Cricket South Africa that the ICC and ECB take action. The ECB chief executive David Collier said as a result Pietersen had been ordered not to comment on cricket in South Africa.

But Pietersen this week confirmed he would not retract his accusations. "I stand by it," he told The Australian. "I'm entitled to my own opinion. Some people might not like it. I've said what I have to say. It's just a case of me going on and loving playing my cricket for England."

The furore began when Pietersen said in South Africa's GQ magazine that the quota system, in which each first-class team in South Africa is expected to have at least four non-white players, had led to his moving to England. But the former head of the Kwazulu-Natal Cricket Union, Rob Kurz, said he told the young Pietersen that if he was good enough, he would gain a place in the team regardless of the quota policy.