Botham disappointed at KP revelations

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Pietersen told the Daily Mail he was eager to return home to England and explained how losing the captaincy in January has left him mentally exhausted.

But Botham believes speaking out in such a frank manner while still on tour can be the wrong thing to do, telling Sky Sports: "Sometimes people do get itchy feet but sometimes you're better off keeping that to yourself."

Pietersen claimed in the interview that he would have "made a few different decisions" to those of Andrew Strauss, his successor as captain, during the stay in the Caribbean.

England lost the Test series 1-0 and Botham believes Pietersen would be more upbeat at this stage of the tour if the team had converted a couple of victory chances.

"They've played a Test series where I think they should have won the games," Botham added.

"They should have won the series 2-1 and that would have put a totally different complexion on it.

"But they didn't get over the final hurdle through negativity in the camp."

Botham's fellow former England captain David Gower pointed to England's poor winter form as a factor in Pietersen's disenchantment.

He said: "It hurts to lose, which is as it should be. But at the end of a winter where you've been losing all the time, it's understandable if not just Kevin Pietersen but one or two others - if not all of them - are down because of it."