Kevin Pietersen admitted today he "was at the end of his tether" and desperate to return home after a tortuous winter with England in the Caribbean.

The 28-year-old even admitted he was "ready to do a Robinho", referring to the Manchester City striker who walked out of a club training camp in Tenerife to return to Brazil in January.

Pietersen, missing his wife, former Liberty X star Jess, has struggled to cope with the fall-out from the end of his reign as skipper while England's lacklustre displays against the West Indies have added to his troubles.

Ahead of today's third one-day international in Barbados, he said: "It's been a heck of a tough time and I'm at the end of my tether now. Really and truly I can't wait to get home. I'm ready to do a Robinho and disappear back home."

Pietersen, at the helm for only three Tests, was forced to quit as captain in January after calling for coach Peter Moores to be replaced.

Moores was also axed but Pietersen said the affair "had drained him mentally" and went on: "I still don't understand why everything happened so suddenly and so quickly.

"It's something I've got to deal with and live with, and I have dealt with it and I'm living with it. I just want to bat and bat now. I know people have been watching me and talking about me throughout this tour."

Pietersen said that England's performances in the Caribbean had been "just not good enough" but he insisted there had been no problems with him being in the side.

"There haven't been any dramas here or any trouble with me going back to the ranks like some people seemed to think there would be. I knew it wouldn't be a problem," he said.

But he admitted he was wary of giving his successor Andrew Strauss any advice, saying: "It's been too close to the bone in terms of what happened in January and that has made it difficult for me to get involved in decisions."

He told the Daily Mail: "I never had everything I wanted as England captain, that's the thing that gets me. My captaincy was not the England captaincy I wanted, that's what will live with me for a long time . . . I wasn't allowed to do it in my way. Straussy got what I wanted but good luck to him because he's a top man. I know he'll make the most of it."

Asked if he would consider the captaincy again, Pietersen added: "After the way I was let down I just don't think I want to get involved in that again."

Strauss, though, is happy to carry on as skipper and says it would be "fantastic" if stand-in coach Andy Flower was given the job permanently.

The England & Wales Cricket Board have employed a team of head hunters to find the right man for the job after Moores's hasty appointment following Duncan Fletcher's sacking three years ago led to accusations of an inside job.

South Africa coach Mickey Arthur has been linked with the post while Kent's director of cricket Graham Ford is understood to have been approached.

But Strauss, whose side go to the Bridgetown Oval today with the five-match series delicately poised at 1-1, wants to build on a relationship with Flower he believes can benefit England.

"We've worked very well together so from my point of view it would be fantastic to continue what we've started, but that's not my job to decide who the best man is," said Strauss. "Andy is a strong candidate and there is a good chance that England will continue as they are."

West Indies skipper Chris Gayle, meanwhile, has dismissed suggestions that a pay row between his players and the West Indies board will lead to the team pulling out of the tour of England, which begins in in May.

"The tour will definitely go ahead," he said. "I will be there, and once all the other players are fit and selected, they also will be there . . . right now, things are looking good."