Pietersen's superstar status won't guarantee him hero's berth in team

Kevin Pietersen will have to do a little more than just flaunt his superstar status to come back into the England team, spinner Graeme Swann has warned.

Pietersen, who will missing the first two Twenty20 matches against South Africa, is eying the first one-dayer for his return after Achilles heel surgery.

"Kev is going to be good for the team from a playing perspective because he is one of the best players in the world," The Mirror quoted spinner Graeme Swann, as saying.

"But I don't think it is a squad that is desperately waiting for other people to turn up. We're all getting on well and have a positive outlook, thanks to some good performances," he added.

Swann pointed out that the team is quite high on morale as far as generating good performance without the star batsman.

"Kev is just going to add to that, he isn't going to change it. It was a good boost to confidence for the team to win without him making a huge contribution last summer. Whenever you lose one or two big players, then everyone else has to step up to the plate and perform," he said.

"Last summer, they did and in that last Test match everyone was saying it had to be Andrew Flintoff's massive last game and it was Stuart Broad who took the limelight and stepped up," he recalled.

Swann is demanding a big rise in standard to give England any chance in the 2011 World Cup on the subcontinent on the day fixtures were released.

"We've got 30-odd games of 50-over cricket to play between now and then, and we need to win 20-25 of them if we are realistically going to be the best one-day team and going to be contenders," he said. (ANI)

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