Surrey snap up Pietersen for next summer

Kevin Pietersen has signed for Surrey for the 2011 domestic season. The England batsman played for the county in the final few months of the 2010 season, having been released by Hampshire. Pietersen said he was "delighted" to have signed.

Shane Warne, Pietersen's captain at Hampshire, said England had made their one-time star batsman feel like an "outcast" since stripping him of the captaincy almost two years ago. "KP's lean trot has a lot to do with the way he has been treated by England," Warne said. "The way they have treated him is ordinary and he has been made to feel as if he is a bit of an outcast."

Andrew Flintoff, who captained England on their last Ashes tour, said Pietersen would play an important role in Australia. Despite his recent dip in form, Flintoff said Pietersen was "too good not to score runs". He added: "In 2006/7, when it went wrong for a lot of people, he came back and scored more then 500 runs. I think he'll do a similar thing this time."