Pietersen happy to give up bling

[King]

Kevin Pietersen, a man rarely described as camera shy, was nowhere to be seen in England's post-match celebrations earlier in the week - because he was with his fiance. More... Pietersen happy to give up bling By Simon Briggs The tabloid newspapers carried pictures this week of Michael Vaughan, newly crowned as England's most successful Test captain, taking a woozy breather late on Monday night. One's first instinct was to look around for Kevin Pietersen, a close friend of Vaughan's, and a man rarely described as camera shy. Hitting out: Kevin Pietersen enjoys a game of urban cricket in class Pietersen, however, was nowhere to be seen. Yesterday he explained why: he had not taken any part in England's post-match celebrations. His fiance, Jessica Taylor, was in town, stopping for a brief rendezvous in the middle of what looks like being Liberty X's final UK tour. And as Pietersen said, with feeling: "We don't see each other all that often." Say hello to the new Kevin Pietersen. And say goodbye to the wide boy with the skunk on his head and the penchant for TNT ****tails (a shot of tequila with a dash of Tabasco sauce, since you ask). The new-model Pietersen wears his hair short and dark, and prefers a nice cup of tea, thank you very much. Over the next few months he will probably spend less time hobnobbing at celebrity launch parties than organising his wedding, which he and Jessica hope to squeeze into their frantic schedules in December. "I'm not really too interested in all the nonsense and all the malarkey any more," explained a softly spoken Pietersen, during a break in his coaching duties at Npower's Urban Cricket roadshow. "There was a time when I was 24 years old, and I was growing up and enjoying myself. I was single and I was having fun, like every youngster should. Now I just want to play good cricket and start a family - that's all I'm interested in." When Pietersen first came into the side, with his bling-tastic diamond earrings and his brash South African accent, everyone could see he had talent. But some people wondered whether he might enjoy the fruits of his labours too much, and so forget to tend the tree. Vaughan, for one, saw this as Pietersen's biggest hurdle, writing in his 2005 autobiography: "As long as we can keep him grounded and he doesn't get too carried away with his celebrity status, this young man can become one of the very best." The Ashes success of 2005 was a major test of Pietersen's resolution, as it was for everyone else involved. A month later, he turned up to the International Cricket Council's annual party - with a supermodel on his arm - an even bigger coup, in the eyes of most reporters, than the two awards he proceeded to scoop. As Vaughan would later say of that heady autumn: "Everyone I spoke to asked me the same two questions: did Freddie Flintoff really pee in Tony Blair's garden and what did Kevin Pietersen get up to with Caprice?" Almost two years later, the stardust has settled, and Pietersen is well on the way to becoming the greatest batsman in the world. Already he has become the fastest man to 2,000 runs in one-day internationals, and the second-fastest (behind the inevitable Don Bradman) to 2,500 in Tests. The new-look Pietersen is not just bad news for gossip sheets - he terrifies opposition bowlers as well. He is a ruthless achiever, the kind of super-focused individual that we produce only too rarely in this country (Nick Faldo, Sir Steve Redgrave), and then laugh at when we do. Pietersen's critics will probably carp that his absence from the post-Test party in Manchester is further evidence that this is not a team man. In fact, the England players who have shared a dressing room with him speak highly of his contribution. He has dedicated himself fully to the cause; if anyone in the camp has been distracted by external concerns it is Flintoff, who followed a well-established pattern by having a shocker on the field during his benefit year. So what's next? Doesn't Pietersen want to usurp Ricky Ponting as the world's No 1 Test batsman? Well, probably he does, but for the moment, all the new Kevin Pietersen wants to talk about is starting a family. "I can't wait to become a father," he said. "This is one of the most exciting times of my life."