Kevin Pietersen retires: Former England batsman quits cricket for 'bigger and better things'

Kevin Pietersen has said he decided to quit cricket because he no longer had it in him to improve.

The former England batsman announced his retirement at the weekend after deciding not to take part in the Pakistan Super League play-offs, where he was playing for Quetta Gladiators.

“I’ve had enough,” Pietersen said on ITV’s Good Morning Britain. "Twenty overs of fielding feels like playing a Test match so it’s time to hang up the boots.

"I’ve got better and bigger things to go on to now. I’ve had a wonderful career but I just don’t think I’ve got it in me to keep improving or try to improve."

While his on-field brilliance was clear, Pietersen emerged as a divisive figure, culminating in an announcement from the ECB in 2014 that, at 33, he would no longer be considered for selection.

But the South Africa-born batsman says he had no regrets and credits his exile with turning him on to animal conservation - an area he now intends to focus on in retirement as part of the fight to save the rhino from extinction.

"I can do something better now," he said. "There’s a huge issue in the world with trophy hunting.

"The England issue was horrendous but it allowed me to go back to Africa and rekindle my love affair with animals."