At Lord’s today at 4pm, Kevin Pietersen will bat for the first time in more than three months. His hands will be too soft and he will be stiff afterwards but, more significantly, after a year of disillusionment with cricket, he will enjoy himself.

Unlike many injured sportsmen, Pietersen accepted, almost embraced, his enforced rest as a chance to recharge. The England batsman last faced a ball on July 18, in the second Test match against Australia. Four days later he had an operation on his Achilles, after which he was hospitalised for two days because of an infection, fed antibiotics through a drip, spent a month on the couch doing little other than watching some cricket and his favourite channel — National Geographic — and making sure he did not eat too much.

“The big thing is the mental rest,” Pietersen said. “This year has been one of the toughest of my career, with the captaincy debacle in January plus the injury. This break has refreshed my head and who knows how I’ll come back as a player. My Achilles won’t hamper me any more and I definitely feel fresh mentally. I’ll be starting off really enjoying myself — and this year I haven’t particularly enjoyed playing cricket because I was in pain and because of what happened in January. It’s been a tough thing for me.”

It is easy to understand Pietersen’s view that his tendinopathy was almost a necessary evil. He needed a break and the operation gave it to him. The “debacle” was his dispute with Peter Moores, the former England head coach, which led to Pietersen’s resignation as England captain in January after a little over four months in charge. The combination of politics and playing while in pain left Pietersen wondering about his relationship with the sport.

“I believe everything happens for a reason and these three months have happened to refresh me and knowing that I was sort of falling out of love with the game, it was a symbol or a sign for me to refresh and recharge my batteries,” he said.

He will travel to South Africa for England’s winter tour on November 9 or 10 and his comeback will be a warm-up against South Africa A in Potchefstroom on November 17. His first competitive match should be the first one-day international in Johannesburg three days later. “I can’t wait,” he said. “I haven’t been at my best since India last year.”

Pietersen breaks with tradition. Enforced rest usually prompts sportsmen to become depressed and allow problems to fester but he turned this on its head. “Preparation is what I bank on and preparation has definitely been hampered because of external thoughts,” he said. “These last three months have cleared my brain and my thoughts.”

And in some ways his rehabilitation regime could not have been more perfect. Pietersen is a member of the Chelsea Club, which is two minutes from his home in West London and houses the TechnoGym Kinesis equipment necessary for him to regain fitness.

Because of links between England’s medical staff and those of Chelsea Football Club, Pietersen was also able to use their training facilities in Cobham, Surrey, where he worked out on an underwater treadmill.

“I’ve been very fortunate,” he said. “If guys like Freddie [Flintoff] and Simon Jones, an unsung hero of the 2005 Ashes, had an opportunity like this the boys could be in top condition. I’ve really enjoyed my [rehab] process — where it can be a process that makes you want to kill yourself.”

Maybe Pietersen is predisposed to be a good patient. He looks fleetingly staggered when I suggest that rather than face a barrage of balls from a bowling machine at Lord’s, his first net should comprise one ball and a five-minute break in which he could punch the air and acknowledge his comeback. But he explains calmly that an hour in front of the machine does represent a gentle reintroduction. His hand-eye co-ordination and picking the length of the ball when bowled is what he has to focus on and there is no virtual-reality machine for that.

“It’s a case of training my brain,” he said. “One ball is so much pressure. An hour of balls is better. An hour a day is gradual.” Neither does he flinch when I touch his palm and pronounce that he has a woman’s hands. He even has the grace to laugh.

“The hands are really soft now but if I spoke to you in ten days’ time, my hands will have toughened up.” Asked if he thinks he has been the perfect patient, he said: “I’ve had to be. Without an Achilles you can’t do anything. I’ve learnt to appreciate walking properly. People take walking for granted but, believe me, with an Achilles like I’ve had the last six months and with the infection, goodness, don’t take walking for granted.”

His Achilles problems were not, he says, caused by running too much but by not running correctly.

“I love running but there was the transformation from running in the UK to going to the Caribbean and running up hills and probably not wearing the right footwear,” he said. “My surgeon told me that one in three people he’s seen has high blood cholesterol so I’m having that tested.” How, though, will Pietersen know if he has truly fallen back in love with cricket? “I’m pretty keen to start playing again and that tells its own story.”

The highs and lows of KP

Born June 27 1980 in South Africa

1997 Made first-class debut for Natal, playing mainly as an off spinner.

2000 Helps Cannock to win the Birmingham Premier League. Offered contract with Nottinghamshire.

2001 Makes 1,275 runs in maiden county season.

2003 Selected for England A tour to India and makes three hundreds in six innings.

2004 Joins Hampshire. Selected for England tour to Zimbabwe and South Africa. Has three hundreds in one-day series with South Africa.

2005 Test debut at Lord’s in first Ashes Test against Australia: scores 57 and 64 not out. Makes maiden Test hundred with 158 not out in final Test as England regain Ashes.

2006 Passes 1,000 Test runs in his twelfth match. Takes his first Test wicket (Kamran Akmal). After 5-0 Ashes loss, misses most of one-day series with Australia with broken rib.

2007 Makes two hundreds in World Cup and becomes world No 1 one-day batsman. Makes highest Test score of 226 v West Indies. Marries Jessica Taylor.

2008 Becomes England captain after Michael Vaughan resigns. Leads England to 4-0 win in one-day series against South Africa.

2009 After difficult tour to India, stories emerge about problems between Pietersen and Peter Moores, the England head coach. Moores is sacked and Pietersen resigns. Is bought for almost £1 million a year by Royal Challengers Bangalore in Indian Premier League. Injures Achilles in West Indies. Plays in first two Ashes Tests but misses rest of series with Achilles problem. Has surgery, but wound gets infected and he misses Champions Trophy.

Words by Patrick Kidd