Kevin Pietersen has offered to double up his time as England’s white-ball consultant to help next year’s bid to win back the Ashes.Speaking for the first time about his surprise return to the fold in a mentoring capacity, Pietersen revealed that he had already held talks with new Test coach Stephen Fleming about working with the batsmen ahead of trying to wrest back the urn from Australian hands in 2027.Family holiday plans, plus his commitments to his YouTube channel The Switch mean he is unlikely to be available during the five Test series next June and July, but the four-times Ashes winner will be in England’s environment in advance of that – joining the limited-overs tours of Australia and South Africa this winter.’I have had a conversation with Stephen Fleming, but I don’t think that necessarily means that I need to be in a dressing room,’ Pietersen said.’There’s a lot of time in the lead-up to an Ashes series. There’s a lot of time in the lead-up to the tour of South Africa, where I’m going to be with the Test batters in Australia, and there’s conversations that can be had there.’Inside a tournament, I can’t do anything. There’s nothing I can do, but I’ve certainly had conversations with Flem, who I absolutely love, about language that he would like me to use with the Test batters, going into South Africa, and then certainly into the summer next year.’ Kevin Pietersen (right) has offered to help England’s Test side as they look to win back the Ashes next yearPietersen being recruited by the England and Wales Cricket Board again 12 years after his sacking, amid suggestions that following several internal fallouts one of England’s greatest ever cricketers had become unmanageable, was the most left-field of calls. And even more remarkable given that Brendon McCullum, heavily criticised by Pietersen for his coaching environment in early 2025, was the instigator.However, reflecting on the then and now, he said: ‘I’m 46, man. That stuff’s so long gone. I’m a completely different person, too. I’m just here to help Brendon first and foremost.’And I’m here to help the players try and become the best versions of themselves. I’ve been lucky to have worn every T shirt an England cricketer can wear. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And so there are parts to all of their careers, which I think that I could potentially help (with).’Pietersen even concedes he was wrong when he lambasted England’s work ethic during last year’s tour of India, suggesting they were not in the nets enough.’The perception of Team England when I came in was not great, but perception is not always reality, and the reality that I see is great,’ he said.McCullum said one of the attractions of Pietersen – signed up on a deal until the end of the World Cup in his native South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia in autumn 2027 – was his ability to be contrary.’He just said: I know you’ve been super critical of stuff that we’ve done previously, but I’d love you to come into the rooms, and I’d love to hear opinion on certain things,’ Pietersen revealed.’I might take some of it. I might not. And I’m like, I’ll give it to you as much as I can in terms of what I think is right in situations with players, with strategy. And if you want it, you have it. Pietersen has been working with England’s white ball team this summer but is keen to help’I’m not sitting here wanting to be the coach of England. He’s the coach of England.’If I can help him, in his journey and his pursuit and in our pursuit to be competitive next year, then it’s a win.’So we’ve got 12 months to plan, to learn, to win, to lose, like last night, and hopefully learn from losing.’Pietersen was a meticulous note taker as a player, forming differing ways to play across formats and situations. Few to have played for England have been as good at identifying moments to counter-attack. Fewer still to do so with shots that scythed through the traditional coaching manual.’I remember back when I was a kid, and I came over here, and I played with Greg Blewett, Chris Cairns. I remember playing in South Africa, playing with Jonty Rhodes and Lance Klusener, Shaun Pollock, watching Malcolm Marshall as a kid, being in and around these environments, having Clive Rice as a coach for Notts when I came over, an absolute hero,’ he added.’So my responsibility is just to be a great person to these guys. And that’s the 46-year-old me, all I want to be is a great person to these guys.’My boy’s 16 years of age now, so I’ve seen a lot, I’ve done a lot, and I just want to try to be the best dad in a house. I want to be the best guy in the room for these guys, so that they come to me, and they ask me for information, and if I’ve got stuff for them, I’ll give it to them.’