Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen retires from cricket

The former England batsman - who has been quite publicly edging closer to retirement over recent months - had been playing for the Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League.

He helped them qualify from the group stages and move closer to a third successive final appearance in the T20 tournament, but with the play now moving from the UAE to Pakistan, Pietersen has picked up his bat for the final time.

The 37-year-old hinted at his long-expected retirement on Friday with a Tweet which simply read "Boots Up! Thank you" before expanding on his situation on Saturday.

"Someone just tweeted to tell me that I scored 30000+ runs including 152 fifty's & 68 hundreds in my pro career," he wrote on Instagram.

"4 Ashes wins. Home & away! T20 WC win. Beaten India in India. Home & away 100's in all major Test nations apart from Bangladesh.

"All dedicated to my family who have just been the most unreal supporters through thick & thin! I'm super proud of everything!

"Thank you for all the quite lovely msgs! I loved entertaining you all! Ciao, cricket! I love this game!"

In truth, Pietersen has been retired from the biggest stage since his England exile started in 2014, a high-profile casualty of the 2013/14 Ashes whitewash defeat.

He embarked on a nomadic T20 career after that, taking in all corners of the globe, with the last 12 months an extended farewell tour.

Speaking to Quetta's Twitter feed on Friday, he said he was leaving with a "hardened and sorry heart".

Quetta tweeted: "You will be missed @KP24 Great career!! Thank you for everything. Wish you could stayed with us till PSL final but we respect your decision."

The decision means that the final score of Pietersen's 20-year career was seven against Islamabad United.

That, though, tells little of his story.

Pietersen will ultimately be remembered as one of the best English batsmen of his generation, if not all time.

His latter-day T20 exploits will not detract from 23 hundreds across 104 Test matches, four Ashes wins or 8,181 Test runs.

Man of the Tournament as England won the World T20 in 2010, Pietersen is England's second-highest run-scorer of all time across all three formats of the game.

As his cricket has wound down, his conservation work with rhinos has increased.

A loyal family man, Pietersen recently shared a picture on Instagram explaining how he would no longer have to say goodbye to his loved ones again.

Pietersen's final appearance in England - the country he will be forever associated with despite being born in South Africa - came with Surrey last summer. His stint in the Big Bash with the Melbourne Stars over Christmas was his last taste of the big time.

Modest returns in the PSL came and now his work is done.

"Time to move on," he wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

Moving on is what England did after the horror Ashes tour of 2013/14.

Pietersen's attitude was criticised by some within the England camp and he never played again. He tried to revive his Test career, hitting an unbeaten 355 for Surrey, but it was not enough to convince the England and Wales Cricket Board to take him back.

The governing body did thank Pietersen, though.

A former England captain - albeit briefly - Three Lions fans will best remember him for his Ashes-winning 158 in 2005, a 227 against Australia in Adelaide and a brilliant 186 in Mumbai in 2012.

Aside from that, the swagger and the haircuts allowed him to stand-out, not to mention the switch hits - a pre-cursor to a new generation of English batsmen.

Former team-mates and opponents have been paying tribute to the flamboyant batsman, including the likes of ex-England captain Michael Vaughan and former West Indies skipper Darren Sammy.

Vaughan said Pietersen was the best batsman he had played with.

He Tweeted: "Well done @KP24 on an fantastic career ... Not everyone's Cup of Tea but you will do for me ... Best Batsman I had the pleasure to play with ... 1st England batsman that put fear into the Aussies .. #WellDone"

Kevin Pietersen: In numbers

277 - England appearances, consisting of 104 Tests, 136 one-day and 37 Twenty20 internationals.

47.28 - his Test batting average.

227 - Pietersen's best Test score, in an innings win in Adelaide in the second Test of the triumphant 2010-11 Ashes.

158 - his match-saving and Ashes-clinching second innings at the Oval in 2005.

23 - Test hundreds, with 35 fifties.

8,181 - Test runs, the fifth-highest all-time tally for England.

13,797 - runs across all international formats.

16,522 - first-class runs in his career.

355 - unbeaten career-high score, made for Surrey against Leicestershire in 2015 while trying in vain to win back his England place.

122 - first-innings score on his Nottinghamshire debut after moving to England in time for the 2001 season.

5 - IPL teams Pietersen has represented - Royal Challengers Bangalore, Deccan Chargers, Delhi Daredevils, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rising Pune Supergiant. He has also played in the Caribbean Premier League, the Pakistan Super League, Australia's Big Bash League and South Africa's T20 Challenge.

Five memorable innings

1. 158 v Australia, The Oval, September 2005

The knock for which KP will be remembered most fondly by many, including a large group of fans who were outside cricket's bubble until the memorable Ashes summer of '05. Pietersen was already a star in the making, gatecrashing the sport's most historic series with his 'skunk' hairstyle, brash demeanour and predilection for dismissive six-hitting. In the decisive fifth Test of the series he graduated to the big leagues, recovering from being dropped by Shane Warne to secure the return of the urn with his maiden century.

2. 149 v South Africa, Headingley, August 2012

Sometimes in sport context is king. To watch highlights of this innings is to watch a master of his craft - a true alpha male performance as he dominates a supreme pace attack of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and Jacques Kallis. At times it seemed nowhere was safe to bowl to the swaggering presence at the other end. To watch it with the benefit of hindsight makes it all the more remarkable. At the end of the match Pietersen gave an astonishing press conference during which he indicated it could be his penultimate Test match, spoke cryptically about tensions with the England and Wales Cricket Board and memorably claimed "it's tough being me" in the national side.

3. 110 not out v New Zealand, Chester-le-Street, June 2008

Remarkably, given his free-hitting reputation, Pietersen only scored one ODI century in 52 innings on home soil. But that one will go down in history as the one where he debuted the fully-formed 'switch hit' in all its glory. Taking the reverse-sweep one step further, Pietersen chose his moment against Black Caps medium-pacer Scott Styris, changing his grip and stance to reflect that of a left-hander and clobbered a brilliant six. Just in case anyone failed to appreciate the complexity or innovative nature of the stroke, he repeated the dose soon after. Much debate over the shot's legality followed, though there were more imitators than bemoaners.

4. 202 not out v India, Lord's, July 2011

On the grand occasion of the 2,000th Test, and with England needing an emphatic series win to go top of the ICC rankings, Pietersen played a gem at the home of cricket. It was truly an innings of two parts, his first hundred coming in tricky batting conditions and occupying 215 balls - slower than he had ever moved to three figures before. Having shown unusual pluck in service of the team, he then relocated his muse, scoring another century in just 111 deliveries with 11 fours and a six. England went on to win the game, series and number one spot.

5. 355 not out v Leicestershire, The Oval, May 2015

The Foxes attack in this atypically high-profile Division Two championship match was not one of the more challenging Pietersen had faced over the course of his career. But, as so often with the mercurial middle-order batsman, he picked his moment with uncanny perfection. At the beginning of the match he was theoretically playing for the chance to resurrect his international chances by proving himself in a rare first-class stint with Surrey. Naturally, he reeled off the best first-class score of his life, just two shy of the best ever in a Surrey shirt. By the time Andrew Strauss, now ECB director of cricket, confirmed the door remained permanently closed Pietersen had already crafted a storming riposte over seven-and-a-half hours at the crease.

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