Last month Andrew Flintoff rejected an England contract to concentrate on a freelance career, playing for the IPL and other clubs around the world. Pietersen, one of the most bankable England stars after Flintoff - he just landed a hefty contract to endorse Brylcreem - has been talked about as the most likely player to follow in Flintoff's path.
Pietersen, who is recovering from injury and hoping to make England's tour to South Africa, said Flintoff's situation was different from his but admitted that franchise cricket was tempting to players. "Freddie's in a different position to me because he's finished his Test career, his body is sort of finishing itself off," he told the Observer. "He puts such a workload through his legs and his knees and his ankles. I'm just a batsman. I love scoring runs for England. I hate being out injured. I'm not going to make a sob story out of it, because I just want to try and recharge my batteries after five years of a rollercoaster ride.
"But I think the reality of it is now, with IPL and everything around, central contracts are not necessarily going to be things people are going to look forward to."
Pietersen said central contracts did not mean the same that they did when they were first introduced because of the lucrative alternate options available now. He felt the England board needed to rotate players so that they got adequate rest. "You do want guys playing to the best of their ability and not just thinking: 'Oh, here we go again. Right, I'm going to bat three times this week, I'll try tomorrow, I'll try the next day.'"
Pietersen said there was too much county cricket being played, with the result that the quality of the game drops. "County cricketers coming into the Test environment, they don't face fast bowling and they don't face quality spinners. The reason they don't face fast bowling is that no fast bowler can come to England and play 18 first-class games, plus 18 one-day games, plus nine one-day games, plus Twenty20. People won't bowl 90 miles an hour [in those circumstances].
"It's a struggle from the start whereas in Australia and South Africa you've got guys who face this kind of bowling all the time. They play only eight first-class games.
"I honestly think that cricket in this country needs to be regionalised and you need to play each match like a Test match, instead of up and down the country, playing every day. It's an horrendous grind, especially if you're nowhere near the lead. If it was eight teams fighting it out for something, it's a lot closer."
