Kevin Pietersen has begun training with Surrey as the first step on his journey back to an England recall, but coach Peter Moores is dismissive, saying: ‘Pietersen is not even on my radar’.

Moores and Pietersen go back a long way: back to 2007 when Moores took over as coach of the England team, replacing Duncan Fletcher. Just 18 months later, he lost his job in a fall-out with Pietersen, who also lost his position as captain of England.

Pietersen had his first net session on Monday, and is expected to play his first game against Oxford MCCU on 12 April.

The maverick batsman, who was effectively fired after the last disastrous Ashes tour following a tumultuous and fractious period with the national team, was thrown a lifeline when the new ECB Chairman Colin Graves said the England option was open if Pietersen proved himself in County Cricket.

So desperate is the South African-born batsman to regain his England place that he gave up a lucrative deal in the IPL and to prove this ‘was not about money’ – he declared that his Surrey wages would be going to charity.

‘I have spent three weeks thinking about it and speaking to different people to work out the best decision. I always said this was not about money and I will be donating my full Surrey wage to my foundation,’ he wrote in his Telegraph column.