Kevin Pietersen has spoken of his relief at returning to international action after being included in the England squad for next week's Twenty20 internationals against New Zealand.
Pietersen had been unavailable to England since March due to a knee injury.
The South Africa-born shotmaker is regarded as the most talented batsman in the England set-up and has scored 7,499 runs, including 22 hundreds, in 94 Tests at an impressive average of 49.01.
In T20 internationals, he has scored 1,176 runs at an average of 37.93.
Pietersen, 32, was included yesterday in England's squad for the Twenty20 internationals against New Zealand at his Surrey home ground of The Oval in south London.
He will be available for the second match on June 27 provided he successfully completes a four-day County Championships game for Surrey away to Yorkshire beginning on Friday, the England and Wales Cricket Board said Thursday.
In an interview with Talksport Radio presenter and former England fast bowler Darren Gough, due to be broadcast on Friday, Pietersen -- regarded as a key member of the Test side that will begin the defence of the Ashes against Australia next month -- was delighted to be back in the Twenty20 squad.
"It's great. We did talk about it and we thought it would be good to get some international exposure, just get back into the international swing of things and to just get a lot of the nonsense out in the air," Pietersen said.
"It's a perfect opportunity at The Oval, it'll be the second game on the Thursday and it'll just be nice to get back out there and whack a few balls, if I whack a few, and run around on the field, just get that buzz again, so I'm very happy.
