Pietersen underlines importance of Test cricket ahead of Stanford match

Kevin Pietersen launched an impassioned defence of Test cricket today, less than two weeks before he will lead England in the $20m Twenty20 Stanford match.

England face a West Indies select team in Antigua on 1 November in the winner-takes-all game where each victorious player will walk away with $1m.

That match - and there will be four more like it over the next four years - combined with the success of the big-money Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 competition, has led to concerns that the crowd-pulling format might undermine the status of Test cricket.

Pietersen, however, whose explosive batting is perfectly suited to the shorter format, dismissed the idea.

"Twenty20 is here to stay and is the future of coloured clothes cricket but white clothes separate the men from the boys - where you are testing yourself over five days," Pietersen told a news conference at Lord's.

"Tests are certainly the pinnacle and I want to be remembered for having pretty good stats in test cricket.

"A test victory is something really special, it's an amazing feeling because they don't come around that often and I don't think that is going to change."

With Sri Lanka's visit to England next year in doubt because so many of their leading players might opt for the IPL, Pietersen said he would be immensely saddened if any England player contemplated a similar move.

"The priority should always be playing for your country," said the former South African.

Pietersen, who took over the captaincy from Michael Vaughan for the last, victorious, Test in this year's home series defeat by South Africa, leads England on their short trip to the Caribbean before moving on to India for two tests and seven one-day internationals.

Pietersen, who has said he would donate some of any victory money to charity, said he understood completely those who have questioned the morality of putting up $20m for a three-hour showdown.

"I respect the situation in the world at the moment, I've got friends who are really struggling and the game has come up at a difficult time," he said.

"But we didn't organise it, we've just been lucky enough to get picked. We can't be blamed, as long as we don't mess it up by acting like clowns."

He said that, despite the rewards on offer, the match was more about getting ready for the sub-continent.

"It's a reality check, a chance to see how the guys are but it's a Twenty20 at the end of the day - three hours - so mostly it's preparation for the trip to India which is going to be really tough," he said.

"I've been there before and it's a hard place to win but that's the challenge for me. When you look back on your career you look at the challenging times and ask how you did and it's going to be exciting to be able to look back on India 2008."