My greatest ton: Pietersen

Kevin Pietersen yesterday rated his second innings century at Lord’s as one of his best in professional cricket.

The joy on his face when he scored the four to bring up the triple figures was there for all to see as the batsman single-handedly took the match from being a contest to one looking likely to be an England victory, depending on today’s conditions.

“That was right out of the top drawer. I would probably rate that as number one of all my centuries in international or county cricket,” Pietersen told the media after his explosive second innings of 134.

“I play to enjoy myself and to express myself but the most important thing is setting the team up to win a Test. You could see from my emotions how happy I was because it was a very difficult time for batting last night and this morning.”

Pietersen also angrily hit back at claims from the media that he plays for himself above his country.

“What you guys should know is that every single time I turn up for a training session, every single time I turn up for an international, I’ll never ever shy away from anything,” he said at the press conference.

“I’m committed to everything I do for this country, everything I do for this team, to win a Test match, to win a one-day game.

“I play to entertain, to enjoy myself, to express myself but the most important thing is setting the team up to win a Test match. That’s why I gave my wicket away this afternoon trying to get a few more runs. If I was playing for myself, I could quite easily have been batting now. I definitely put the team first.”

Heading into the final day of the first Test at Lords, India need 243 runs with 7 wickets remaining with Sourav Ganguly and Dinesh Karthik keeping alive the slim hopes of an amazing Indian victory.