There was a rare sighting at the Rose Bowl yesterday - Hampshire and England batsman Kevin Pietersen.

Pietersen was joined at the Rose Bowl by a Harris Hawk from the Andover branch of the Hawks' Conservancy Trust, which has joined forces with Hampshire Cricket to boost membership of Junior Hawks, the county's youth scheme.

But Pietersen (the lesser-spotted batsman of South African descent) managed to attract more interest than Morgana, the Trusts' representative, a fortnight after his flight back from Australia.

The England Test hero has hardly been seen at the Rose Bowl since making his England debut in July 2005.

But do not expect that to change next season, despite Hampshire captain Shane Warne's belief that England's squad should play more county cricket.

"It's going to be difficult. I'd love to play more for Hampshire but that's restricted with us playing the West Indies and India straight after the World Cup," said Pietersen, who was only made available for two C & G Trophy games last year.

Pietersen is something of a nocturnal creature these days.

The 25-year-old is recovering from the rib injury that brought his tour of Australia to a premature close - while spending his nights watching England suffer more humiliation during the Commonwealth Bank one-day series.

"I've been watching a lot of it and have been really disappointed not to be there. It's not the way I wanted my tour to finish. It's not the way I wanted to finish at all, especially because of the way I was bat ting.

"I know I'd have added a lot to the team so it's frustrating to wake up as early in the morning as I do when and have a look at what's going on, knowing that it could be better if I was there."

Despite being one of the few England players to emerge from the Ashes whitewash with any credit, Pietersen still returned to England with his wings clipped, after suffering a rib fracture when he came down the wicket to Glenn McGrath in Melbourne a fortnight ago.

"I had a scan on Monday and there's still a fracture in my ribs, but they're healing," added Pietersen, who is also recovering from the intensity of his first Ashes tour.

"I'm having a total break from cricket because I couldn't do anything at the moment if I tried and the Ashes took a lot out of every single player.

"It was a massive relief when I came back, a huge burden off my shoulders knowing that I don't have to deal with abuse as soon as I wake up in the morning. I'm not having that daily barrage from the press, the fans and everybody in Australia from all angles. We got nailed all day, day in, day out whether we were in or out of our hotel, in a cab or on a cricket field."

England's tour is unlikely to include a best-of-three final as they have been humbled by both Australia and New Zealand this week. It is likely to end in Brisbane on February 6.

Pietersen cannot help but sympathise with his team mates. "What makes it doubly hard is playing the one-dayers after all the hype and expectation and everything that went with the Ashes.

"To be beaten 5-0 and try and suddenly turn things around in the one-dayers is difficult. We've lost key players like Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan, Simon Jones and myself but I know every single player will come back better for the experience even if they aren't performing as well as they'd like."

Pietersen expects to be fit to fly out to the Caribbean for the World Cup in March, when he is sure to be in bullish mood.

"I'm planning to be in the nets in mid-February but it only takes one good day in the Caribbean to beat Australia and knock them out. If we improve 10-15 per cent on our performances on this trip in surroundings that won't be as familiar to Australia we can still knock them out of the World Cup."