Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen appears to have called time on his career following a stint in the Pakistan Super League.

While his off-field exploits may mark him out as one of the era’s more controversial players,  his explosive strokeplay left fans in this country on the edge of their seats.

Here, Press Association Sport looks at five of his most memorable knocks in England.

1. 158 v Australia, The Oval, September 2005

CRICKET England 65
Kevin Pietersen walks off after his Ashes-clinching innings (Rui Vieira/PA)

The knock for which KP will be remembered most fondly by many, including a
large group of fans who were outside cricket’s bubble until the memorable Ashes summer of ’05. Pietersen was already a star in the making, gatecrashing the sport’s most historic series with his ‘skunk’ hairstyle, brash demeanour and predilection for dismissive six-hitting. In the decisive fifth Test of the series he graduated to the big leagues, recovering from being dropped by Shane Warne to secure the return of the urn with his maiden century.

2. 149 v South Africa, Headingley, August 2012

Cricket – 2012 Investec Test Series – Second Test – England v South Africa – Day Three – Headingley
Kevin Pietersen celebrates his century (PA Archive)

Sometimes in sport context is king. To watch highlights of this innings is to
watch a master of his craft – a true alpha male performance as he dominates a
supreme pace attack of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and Jacques Kallis. At times it seemed nowhere was safe to bowl to the swaggering presence at the other end. To watch it with the benefit of hindsight makes it all the more remarkable. At the end of the match Pietersen gave an astonishing press conference during which he indicated it could be his penultimate Test match, spoke cryptically about tensions with the England and Wales Cricket Board and memorably claimed “it’s tough being me” in the national side.

3. 110 not out v New Zealand, Chester-le-Street, June 2008

Kevin Pietersen sends a switch hit over the rope (Owen Humphreys/PA)

Remarkably, given his free-hitting reputation, Pietersen only scored one ODI
century in 52 innings on home soil. But that one will go down in history as the
one where he debuted the fully-formed ‘switch hit’ in all its glory. Taking the
reverse-sweep one step further, Pietersen chose his moment against Black Caps medium-pacer Scott Styris, changing his grip and stance to reflect that of a left-hander and clobbered a brilliant six. Just in case anyone failed to appreciate the complexity or innovative nature of the stroke, he repeated the
dose soon after. Much debate over the shot’s legality followed, though there
were more imitators than bemoaners.

4. 202 not out v India, Lord’s, July 2011

Cricket – npower First Test – Day Two – England v India – Lord’s
Kevin Pietersen celebrates his double century at Lord’s (Anthony Devlin/PA)

On the grand occasion of the 2,000th Test, and with England needing an emphatic series win to go top of the ICC rankings, Pietersen played a gem at the home of cricket. It was truly an innings of two parts, his first hundred coming in tricky batting conditions and occupying 215 balls – slower than he had ever moved to three figures before. Having shown unusual pluck in service of the team, he then relocated his muse, scoring another century in just 111 deliveries with 11 fours and a six. England went on to win the game, series and number one spot.

5. 355 not out v Leicestershire, The Oval, May 2015

Cricket – LV= County Championship – Division Two – Day 3 – Surrey v Leicestershire – The Kia Oval
Kevin Pietersen hits another big shot in his record knock (John Walton/PA)

The Foxes attack in this atypically high-profile Division Two championship
match was not one of the more challenging Pietersen had faced over the course of his career. But, as so often with the mercurial middle-order batsman, he picked his moment with uncanny perfection. At the beginning of the match he was theoretically playing for the chance to resurrect his international chances by proving himself in a rare first-class stint with Surrey. Naturally, he reeled off the best first-class score of his life, just two shy of the best ever in a
Surrey shirt. By the time Andrew Strauss, now ECB director of cricket, confirmed the door remained permanently closed Pietersen had already crafted a storming riposte over seven-and-a-half hours at the crease.