England star Kevin Pietersen provides the colour Test cricket needs, Malcolm Conn writes Kevin Pietersen speaks about dealing with the ups and downs throughout his career before playing his 100th Test in Brisbane, and, wait for it, says he respects Australian journalists. Pietersen has never been too far from the headlines throughout his cricket career. ON the eve of playing 100 Tests for England, Kevin Pietersen is still unsure if he is treated differently because of his South African heritage. And it is equally unclear how much he wanted to represent his native country during his early years playing rugby and cricket with his three brothers in the yard of their Pietermaritzburg home. With an English mother and South African father there were always divided loyalties. "You're not going to believe this, but I had an England rugby jersey when we used to play rugby on the front lawn," Pietersen said yesterday as he reflected on his larger than life career. You can ask my brothers. One was South Africa, one was Australia and one was France. France had a cool jersey. Where I've ended up, I would never have dreamt but I'm so lucky and so proud to be where I am. Pietersen deflected questions about who he wanted to play for as a starry-eyed kid. Instead he was keen to talk about how he played. You always want to compete at the highest level. I grew up with three brothers - they are all on their way here now - and we grew up incredibly competitive: fighting, punching, kicking - no biting - it was an incredibly tough upbringing and competition was all that mattered, not partaking," he said. I went to England as a spin bowler and turned out to be a batter, so I can't say I wanted to bat three, four, five and score 10,000 Test runs. It just fell into place. So despite all he's done for England does Pietersen feel being a South African is held against him? Good question. Not 100% sure. Some days I feel yes; some days, no," Pietersen said. It was not his South Africaness which had him banned from the team last year but his self-obsession. The most remarkable line of his remarkable career was "it's not easy being me in the England dressing room." He set himself up as a target to be mocked and some of his team mates didn't miss him. Whether Pietersen is contrite or just pragmatic, that episode appears to have been confined to the kit bag of history. We're all winning together, we've played a lot of cricket together. You have it in all walks of life," he said. You have ups; you have downs. You learn from the ups. You learn from the downs. We all make mistakes. We're going really well. That repairing of relationships appears to include his now retired captain Andrew Strauss. "I had lunch with Strauss yesterday," Pietersen said. Certainly the England fans cheer Pietersen like he is one of theirs. He has been a phenomenon. This cocky teenager who arrived from Natal bowling off-spin and batting at number eight has become one of the all-time greats of his adopted country. He came searching for opportunity and found it in abundance. Since making his debut in the 2005 Ashes Pietersen, 33, has scored 7887 runs at 48 with 23 hundreds. Only his captain Alastair Cook, who has almost identical figures from 97 Tests, has more centuries for England with 25. Yet it is not Pietersen's statistics that stand out, it is the way he has created them. His is the antithesis of his captain, an accumulator of no great style or flare who wears the opposition down. Pietersen bludgeons opponents. From the moment he steps out of the dressing room with that arrogant swagger, which he describes as confidence, he makes it clear he is out to rule the world. Test cricket is hardly a glamour sport but Pietersen is the closest character to a rock star the game possesses. For all his faults and foibles, cricket has been so much the better for him.