England batsman Kevin Pietersen to return to the top of the batting order for one-day series with Pakistan Pietersen's form in 50 over cricket has been on a downward slide for the past four years and handing him the opportunity to partner Alastair Cook at the top of the order will probably represent a final chance to maintain a long term career in that format of the game. He has not scored a one-day century since November 2008 and has averaged 25.17 since then as his confidence and appetite for the 50 over game have waned. England will hope opening the batting and taking the responsibility to set the tone for the innings will help Pietersen rediscover his taste for 50 over cricket while his array of strokes will take the pressure off Cook to increase the tempo of his batting. It would be a return to an experiment that was tried during last year's World Cup and was not fully assessed due to injury forcing Pietersen out of the tournament after only four matches. Pietersen managed just one fifty in those four innings but he did give England impetus with a strike rate of 96. Craig Kieswetter, Cook's opening partner since he took over the captaincy last summer, struggled during the tour to India before Christmas where England's lack of momentum with the bat, particularly during the first powerplay overs, ended in a 5-0 thrashing. But Andy Flower hinted at the end of the tour to India that it is time to show consistency with selection in one-day cricket meaning Kieswetter will probably survive, just with a redefined role in the middle order to accommodate Pietersen. Kieswetter is currently having success experimenting with his new position by batting at five for the England Lions on tour in Sri Lanka where he scored 112 against Sri Lanka A on Sunday and 53 in the previous match. England were due to announce the 50 over and Twenty20 squad for the series against Pakistan early this week but have delayed until the end of the third Test. The selectors want to fully assimilate information from Sri Lanka, the Lions tour ends on Feb 6, and here in the Emirates before picking their final squad. Pietersen's woeful Test form against Pakistan could persuade England he needs a complete break from his trial by spin if he again fails in Dubai later this week although Flower appears to believe he has the ability to find a way out of his current rut. The trial by twirl will not abate when the one-dayers begin as Pakistan picked five spinners in their last 50 over match against Bangladesh in December. Mohammad Hafeez the off-spinner, regularly opens the bowling and left-armer Abdur Rehman bowls as first change suggesting he has no problem using the newer ball. If Pietersen does open Misbah ul-Haq will be tempted to exploit his weakness against left-arm spin and give the new ball to Rehman. There are more testing times ahead.