Pietersen in demand for Aussie Big Bash

SYDNEY: The chief of Australia's Melbourne Renegades team will fly to the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka next week in a bid to sign estranged England batsman Kevin Pietersen for the domestic Big Bash series, reports said on Thursday.

Renegades boss Stuart Coventry said he hoped to arrange a meeting with Pietersen, who is working as a television commentator at the World Twenty20.

"I'd like to (meet Pietersen) but I think I would want to get an indication first about his availability before talking further," Coventry told The Sydney Morning Herald.

"We have three places left on our list and one of them is for an international.

"If we can grab someone who stands up at the World Twenty20 that is our first priority, but now that Kevin Pietersen is back in the mix, there's no doubt we and the Sydney Sixers have been having some dialogue with his management.

"If he is available we'd love to grab him but there's a lot of curve balls in play at the moment, about his availability, whether he wants to come to Australia, whether he wants to come to Melbourne or Sydney."

Pietersen has been in exile since sending text messages to South Africa players that contained derogatory references to then England captain Andrew Strauss during the recent Test series.

With reports circulating that Pietersen had also fallen out with several of his team-mates as a result of his behaviour, the South Africa-born star was axed for the final Test, the subsequent one-day series, the current World Twenty20 tournament and the forthcoming tour to India.

Australia's eight-team Big Bash League begins on December 7.