KEVIN Pietersen expects to enter this summer’s Ashes series fully fit after making encouraging progress in his battle with an Achilles injury.

Pietersen has been troubled by the problem that initially surfaced in the Caribbean this winter and has forced him to miss matches against the West Indies and in the World Twenty20.

Fears emerged earlier this month over his participation in the Ashes but the former England captain has delivered a positive update on his rehabilitation.

‘‘My Achilles is OK. I have tried to make sure that I won’t go into the Ashes series injured,’’ he said.

‘‘I have seen too many players going into big series injured and come out the other end worse. You don’t want to go into the series injured, especially against Australia.

‘‘I’ve made sure my rehab programme has been done really well. I have been as professional as I can be on this programme.

‘‘I am doing everything I can pain-free. The only thing I haven’t been able to do is road run and that is something we will talk about in the next few days.’’ Pietersen added: ‘‘I’m waking up every single morning now absolutely fine and able to do all my exercises and routines and drills pain-free.

‘‘I am skipping for minutes now but three weeks ago, on the morning of the Netherlands game, I couldn’t get down the stairs at my house.

‘‘The improvements have been huge and, from the mental side, that is important.’’