England's Pietersen feeling the pressure of injuries

CRICKET: Trailing 0-2 in the best of five international matches and only one defeat away from conceding the one-day series to Sri Lanka, England are desperately looking to recall Michael Vaughan in the latter stages at least.

The England captain who had been sidelined by a knee injury is making slow progress with Yorkshire and has insisted all the way that he will be patient in his desire to make his international comeback.

England are also equally keen he does not rush, knowing another setback could affect his chances of leading the team to this winter's Ashes tour and the World Cup in the West Indies.

From the first two matches against Sri Lanka it was clearly evident that England are a batsman light in the squad following the ankle injury to opening bat Ed Joyce in the Twenty20 match a week ago.

The absence of Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff (also ankle injury) has placed a great amount of responsibility on the free-scoring Kevin Pietersen who feels the pressure is getting to him.

"I do feel that extra bit of pressure and I do put it into my mental preparation because we've lost such valuable players. We got an indifferent batting line up from what I have been used to playing for England. There's no Vaughan and there's no Flintoff, it definitely does play on my mind a little bit," said Pietersen who made 73 at the Oval, the 12th time in 26 one-day innings that he has been England's top scorer.

For one moment England fans had their hearts in their mouths when Pietersen took a blow on the inside of his left knee from an express delivery from Lasith Malinga and went down on his haunches. He recovered after treatment but hobbled around for the rest of his innings.

"It's one of those things, another injury. It doesn't help matters especially the way we are playing at the moment.

Hopefully I will be good for Saturday," said Pietersen optimistically. "If I went down it is not going to help matters. I think it is pretty important that I don't. I hate missing out in games and training sessions. I want to play on Saturday. I like to be in tip-top conditions all the time. England definitely does need me turning up."

"I get hit underneath my padding just at the bottom of my knee cap and that pressure helps it to swell and my knee stiffens.

I've really got a weak spot at the bottom of my left kneecap. I've reinforced it since I returned from India, but I will get back to the bat manufacturer and get some extra padding," he said.

The South African-born 26-year-old right-hander said that one couldn't compare the present England team to the one that won the Ashes last year. He put the combined experience of the current team to the 358 one-day appearances made by Sri Lanka's most experienced cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya.

"The injuries give opportunities to other young players to prepare themselves for the World Cup. It will give us an idea of how much strong and how much depth we have in our squad when the big guns come back.

But these injuries just don't help. I hate losing, it's not nice and it's not fun. We don't go out to lose, we go out there to give 120 percent," said Pietersen.

The third one-day international will be at Durham on Saturday.