KP: It's not all about me

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The Hampshire batsman is widely perceived as the key to England's Ashes campaign, which gets under way with the first npower Test in Cardiff on Wednesday. But Pietersen believes the success of the other members of England's top order in the last year is evidence they are not reliant on his gifts and can triumph even without a major contribution from him.

"I think the media makes the weight of expectation far greater than it actually is," said Pietersen. "In the dressing room I'm just as important as anyone else."

He added: "There's no great expectation on me in the England dressing room. There's a lot of stuff from outside but we all know over the last 12 months that (Andrew) Strauss has got hundreds, (Alastair) Cook has turned his 50s into hundreds now, (Paul) Collingwood's got hundreds, (Ravi) Bopara's got three in a row and (Matt) Prior's got runs.

"We've all got runs so I don't think it's as big an issue as everybody talks about. I have the confidence that the guys in the dressing room will perform. If I have a bad series England can still win."

Pietersen has enjoyed great highs and lows in his two Ashes series, helping England secure victory in 2005 with a brilliant 158 at The Oval and then being part of the side humiliated by a 5-0 whitewash down under in 2006-7.

His experience of those two series has taught him the fevered excitement surrounding both teams can undermine efforts on the pitch, and captain Andrew Strauss has attempted to underline the need for calmness when they step out for the start of the series on Wednesday.

"I've played in two (Ashes series) now and I've been in England for the last four or five, and I witnessed one when I was out in Australia," said Pietersen.

"As a cricketer you obviously understand the rivalry but if you try to make it out to be bigger than it is, you can get yourself into a bit of a tizz. You can put too much pressure on yourself and turn it into something that it's not.

"It's a game of cricket between two teams that want to win, the same as if we play South Africa and the same as we play every week. The simpler you try to keep each game, each session and each ball the better and more equipped you are to be successful."