Advertisement

The South African-born England star displaced Australia's Michael Hussey this week as the top one-day batsman, but he insists there are better players out there.

"I know there are better players than me. Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden, people like that are better than me," said Pietersen.

"There are a lot more important things than rankings like winning the World Cup and to be winning games with this team.

"Statistics mean a lot and it's great to be number one. But I am happy with the way I am playing and now I hope to win a few more matches with England and be in the final of the World Cup in Barbados on April 28."

Pietersen has hit two half centuries already in the World Cup with a 60 in the Group C defeat against New Zealand and 56 in the win over Kenya. The only black mark on his World Cup record is a five against Canada.

"I started my international career really well on the tour of South Africa," said the 26-year-old batsman.

"After that it got complicated because opponents start to concentrate on your weaknesses. But I'm getting it right now. It was frustrating what happened in Australia becasue the wickets there are fantastic."

Pietersen has plenty of ambitions to fulfill with England and wants to convert great starts into big, memorable scores.

"I haven't scored enough 100s. I have scored three international one-day centuries and they came in my fist 10 matches," he admitted.