BIRMINGHAM: Kevin Pietersen still hopes he can play in the Twenty20 World Cup for England despite retiring from all one-day internationals last week, he said on Sunday.

Pietersen reaffirmed that he did not wish to retire from Twenty20 internationals, but that he had "no regrets" about his decision, because his England and Wales Cricket Board contract does not allow him to pick and choose between 50 and 20 over cricket.

"I hope a compromise can be found," Pietersen told reporters. "If they want me to play the T20 World Cup I'll play it, but contracts are contracts. They'd have to change the rules to make that happen. I made the decision for schedule reasons. I can't carry on doing it all.

"I play every form: the IPL (Indian Premier League), Champions League in October. Apart from (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni, I've played the most days over the last seven years and there comes a time when some form has to be taken out of my schedule and ODI was it. It's a shame I have to make a decision, but that's the schedule we've got.

"If I played for another country I would have months to rest maybe, but you don't get that playing for England, so I had to make a decision and you know what it is. I can't play at my peak and enjoy every single game if I play all forms. You would fall out of love with it. I want to play until I'm 35."

Pietersen will now go abroad for "a break until the beginning of July". He said he would continue to practise during his holiday and return on July 3 for three Twenty20 games and a Championship match for Surrey, before the first test against South Africa at The Oval. -- AGENCIES