'Sacked' England batsman Kevin Pietersen is wanted by his former domestic English cricket club Surrey teammate Graeme Smith to take part in South Africa's domestic Twenty20 competition this winter.
Smith recently severed ties at The Oval owing to a knee injury and was named as the tournament director of the Ram Slam T20 Challenge, with the task of raising its profile.
Pietersen, who on Wednesday returned from the Caribbean Premier League, where he represented St Lucia Zouks, to prepare for Surrey's visit to NatWest Blast finals day this weekend, is understood to top the list of Smith's targets, The Guardian reported.
The former England batsman has already signed for Melbourne Stars in Australia's Big Bash League, which runs between 18 December and 28 January, and has some television commitments as part of that deal.
The six-franchise Ram Slam tournament, which begins on 2 November with the final to be held on 12 December, has struggled to attract major signings in recent years. Chris Gayle, the West Indies opening batsman, was recruited by the Dolphins, the Durban franchise, last year but failed to make an appearance owing to injury, while international commitments restricted the availability of another West Indian, Sunil Narine.
In addition to Pietersen, Surrey will be boosted by the return of the Ireland all-rounder Kevin O'Brien at Edgbaston on Saturday, which will offset the absence of Tillakaratne Dilshan, who is required by Sri Lanka for their one-day series against Pakistan, the report added.
