Kevin Pietersen has admitted his morale has been "hammered" by his failure to score a Test century in the last year-and-a-half. Pietersen has not reached three figures at Test level since March 2009 during a run spree against the West Indies that led to seven centuries. Heading into the fourth and final Test against Pakistan - England's last before they defend the Ashes in Australia - the 30-year-old South Africa born batsman had gone 25 innings without a Test hundred. Pietersen said the problem was more psychological than technical, attributing the roots of his slump to his acrimonious removal as England captain in January 2009 in a row that saw Peter Moores sacked as coach. "I'm not one of those guys who likes to say I'm playing well in the nets. Talk is cheap, but I'm trying so, so hard to break this barren run of hundreds," Pietersen told Sky Sports. "It does concern me. I'm always looking to try and improve. I've got to look at the positives and drag my confidence up, which has been hammered in the last 18 months. "I'm nowhere near the person I used to be but I've got to keep trying to work at it. "I've got a hell of a lot of starts and a hell of a lot of 80s and 90s. I was thinking if I'd converted those I'd have four hundreds in the Test year which is what I usually get. "It's purely down to confidence and purely down to what's happened over the last 18 months. I'm trying so hard every day to get back to where I used to be. I'll get there." Pietersen is due in next after England ended the first day of the fourth Test against Pakistan on 39 for one, a combination of rain and bad light meaning fewer than 13 overs were bowled Thursday. England batting coach Graham Gooch, who has worked closely with Pietersen, told reporters at Lord's after stumps: "Three weeks ago, I spent a week of practice with him here (Lord's) and he works tremendously hard at his game. "The way he shapes up in preparation, you couldn't fault that," added former England captain and opening batsman Gooch. "It's the same as he would approach a match and that's the right way. "But when you are out there, the way you manage your batting, the way your mind works, is down to the individual. "In these (overcast) conditions we've had, you have to make runs. You've got to work really hard," explained the 57-year-old Gooch who in his 118 Tests scored 8,900 runs, including 20 hundreds, at an average of 42.58 "He's working away, he's not found the scores he wants. But the 80 he scored at Edgbaston (in the second Test) enabled England to win that match." England have asked Hampshire to play Pietersen in a couple of county fixtures this season but they refused after the South Africa-born batsman made it clear he'd be leaving at the end of the current campaign to move to a side nearer his London home. "You get confidence from scoring runs in the middle. That is an important part of feeling good as a player," said Gooch, who spent all his county career with eastern side Essex. "But the modern itinerary of international cricket doesn't quite allow the number of (opportunities for other) games that it did in the past. "Kevin's situation with Hampshire is between him and them. But ideally, you'd like to be playing some sort of cricket at some stage - because you need that rhythm." Pietersen, for all his recent struggles, has still scored 5,306 runs, including 16 hundreds, in 65 Tests at an average of 48.23.

Kevin Pietersen has admitted his morale has been "hammered" by his failure to score a Test century in the last year-and-a-half.

'Hammered' Pietersen in search of confidence boost

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'Hammered' Pietersen in search of confidence boost

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