When the only way to go is down, maintaining your hold at the top can be a Herculean feat -- but that is the task facing Kevin Pietersen [Images] this summer and beyond.

Pietersen has talked the talk of wanting to be the world's best batsman since making his splash in South Africa in early 2005.

Having walked the walk all the way to the top of the one-day international rankings -- a summit he reached during England's [Images] misdirected World Cup challenge -- the 26-year-old is now about to test the old maxim that getting there is the easy part.

Having equalled Sir Viv Richards' [Images] record of clocking 1,000 one-day international runs in just 21 innings, he also shares the fastest course to 2,000 with Pakistan's Zaheer Abbas.

Those sort of landmarks are reached by the best players of not only their own generations but all, and Ricky Ponting's [Images] prediction last autumn is coming to fruition.

"In my view the biggest danger man could be Pietersen, who might even develop into the next superstar of world cricket," Ponting said. "Potentially he's that good.

"Pietersen is the one who is a standout at the moment. His technique, although it looks a bit different, has stood up very well at international level." 

Pietersen is thrilled with his current success, but is in no mood to rest on his laurels as he works to stay at the top of his game for the remainder of what he is determined will be a lengthy international career.

He said: "I am still pretty young in my career. I have probably got another seven or eight, hopefully another 10, years of playing for England, playing at the highest level.

"It has been a nice start, I have enjoyed it. Nobody goes through their career blasting it all day every single day. I am just appreciating the good times at the moment and just concentrating on the simple things.

"The simple things for me are making sure I prepare right and making sure I am mentally tuned in. My life has panned out for me and however it goes from here on in, I don't want to ever wake up on the morning of a Test match thinking I haven't prepared right.

"I think the only pressure I put on myself is to try to up my hundreds column," he admits. "My stats speak for themselves but if there's an improvement I can make, it's there.

"I went a bit too hard at it last year in one-day cricket and I've settled down and I try to build innings now, but I still think I play pretty similar.

"There is a lot of responsibility on me but I like that. It is nice to start off when you just bat and bat, but as you progress as a player you become more experienced and you take more responsibility which I enjoy."

One of Pietersen's favourite buzz phrases is 'adapt or die' and it has been apt in his own progression.

Where once he unfurled indomitable strokes for the pleasure of the crowd, such is his immense talent, his innings are now as ponderous as thunderous.

With growing maturity has come discretion; the scoring surges are still evident, just delivered by virtue of a keener sense of timing.

Pietersen believes he is just showing a winning mentality, encouraged by new England coach Peter Moores.

"I just basically think it's that killer instinct, that ruthlessness that the Australian team showed us in Australia this winter," he says. "They were at our throats - that's what we want to do, we want to be mentally right, we want to be physically right and we just want to keep asking questions ball after ball, session after session.

"A team has to back down at some stage and that is something Peter is very, very positive about and keen on doing.

"As soon as you turn up at the ground, you are in the right frame of mind, you have got positive energy, positive vibes chucking around the dressing room.

"Positive energy breeds positive performances," added the very positive Kevin Pietersen.

- Copyright PA Sport 2007

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