Exiled England batsman in blistering touch ahead of next month's BBL|05
KP tunes up for Stars stint with big ton
In good news for Melbourne Stars fans, marquee signing Kevin Pietersen is in blistering from ahead of BBL|05, smashing an unbeaten century in South Africa's domestic T20 competition.
Playing for the Sunfoil Dolphins, Pietersen crunched five fours and 10 sixes in a thrilling one-run win over the Highveld Lions in Durban.
The exiled England batsman entered the fray in the first over of the day and wasted no time freeing his arms, hitting his first boundary off his fifth ball and the first maximum three deliveries later.
His second fifty came off a jaw-dropping 17 balls, with five towering sixes, to reach his hundred from 63 balls.
He finished 115no from 66 deliveries, guiding the Dolphins to 6-174 from 20 overs, which proved to be just enough.
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Pietersen will play five matches for the Dolphins before heading to Australia for his second season with the Stars this summer.
The tall right-hander was the Stars' leading run-scorer in BBL|04, producing 293 runs at 42 with three half-centuries.
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Kevin Pietersen will be a top-order lynchpin for the Stars again this summer // Getty
Sir Vivian Richards, who worked with Pietersen as a mentor at the Stars last summer, says the controversial stroke-maker is a huge loss for international cricket.
"Kevin Pietersen should have been taken for what he is," Richards told Omnisport. "There are times folks can be a little stuffy-nosed.
"I’ve always felt about Kevin having seen him, and for the short time I spent with him in Melbourne, he's a confident dude. He exudes confidence.
"When you have guys in a dressing room where you rub guys up the wrong way, and you have guys that aren't as confident.
"But I guess you take him for what he is. If we were all alike it would be boring, we wouldn't have much fun. These characters make the sport exciting."
Pietersen will join countryman Luke Wright, allrounders James Faulkner and Glenn Maxwell and captain David Hussey at the Stars this summer, who will begin their campaign against the Adelaide Strikers at the Adelaide Oval on December 18.