Kevin Pietersen returns to his home ground at Durban today with a place in the English record books thanks in no small part to Nasser Hussain.

If it had not been for encouragement from former captain Hussain during the 1999-2000 tour, Pietersen might not have been blasting an England record 69-ball century in East London on Wednesday night.

As a teenager playing for KwaZulu-Natal, Pietersen struck a typically demonstrative 61, at faster than a run-a-ball and including four sixes, during a tour match.

He also took four wickets - those of Hussain, Michael Atherton, Michael Vaughan and Chris Adams - with his off-spin to encourage Hussain to provide county contacts back home.

Four summers of qualification later, the 24-year-old son of a British mother has made a more explosive start to his international career than any English player in the past two decades, culminating in his whirlwind effort in the seven-run defeat.

It was a contribution which threatened to turn a contest dominated by the home side.

Pietersen hit the last ball over mid-wicket for the six needed to reach his second hundred of the series and raised his arms in stifled celebration.

''It would have been a great effort if we had won the game but to lose and go 3-1 down was not the best way to get a record-breaking hundred,'' said Pietersen, who was schooled in Pietermaritzburg 45 minutes up the road.

''We had lost, so the emotions had gone, but Darren Gough walked down the wicket and said 'right, here's an opportunity to get a hundred'.

''I told him I was not really bothered whether I got it or not, but Andre Nel gave me a juicy full toss.

''I never gave up until that last ball, even in the last over I backed myself to hit three sixes and someone else to chip in.''

Pietersen does not lack confidence, nor does he back down in a duel. Unruffled by opponents' eye-balling and crowd cackling he has piled up 338 runs in five innings this series.

His latest effort left its mark physically - his sore left hamstring will be strapped up, as will the two bats which were cracked by aggressive hitting.

He is unsure what kind of greeting to expect at Kingsmead as England attempt to retain hopes of sharing the spoils in the seven-match series but will not mind more hostility.

''It definitely makes me play better,'' said Pietersen.

''I love a challenge and to hear people booing me, going ballistic gets me going.

''They have their points of view but I am very happy with what I do. Perhaps I need to get these crowds over in England!

''I am fulfilling a dream, I love playing cricket for England and succeeding for England."

He averages more than 50 in four seasons of first-class cricket with Nottinghamshire.

He insisted: ''All I can concentrate on is playing well here and let the selectors decide what happens from there. In four-day cricket I am a lot more patient."

England (from): MP Vaughan (captain), Kabir Ali, JM Anderson, GJ Batty, IR Bell, PD Collingwood, AF Giles, D Gough, SJ Harmison, MJ Hoggard, GO Jones, KP Pietersen, VS Solanki, AJ Strauss, ME Trescothick, AG Wharf.