Kevin Pietersen has reassured England that he is not preparing to pick and choose tours to try to ease the workload caused by the gruelling international schedule.

The Hampshire batsman has been an England regular in both forms of the game for the past two years and has been outspoken about the demands placed on the leading players by cricket's authorities.

One report even suggested Pietersen may consider slimming down the relentless schedule following his marriage to pop star Jessica Taylor later this year.

But yesterday Pietersen insisted he would never think about missing out on an England opportunity, even if he does admit to being concerned about the schedule.

''There are loads and loads of demands on your time now,'' said Pietersen.

''The world game is becoming like county cricket, which is hard but it's what we've wanted to do since we were kids so we've just got to get on and do it.

''I'm a bit worried about it, but not as worried as the reports say I am.

''I'm never going to be in a situation where I turn a tour down or a game down because I love doing this although it might be a different story if I was a fast bowler trying to run in hard every week.''

Speaking at an Urban Cricket coaching clinic on behalf of Test sponsors npower at Bowburn Junior School in Durham, Pietersen claimed it as important to plan time away from the game as it is to work hard at improving his technique.

He has already pencilled the possibility of a break between the final one-day international against West Indies at Trent Bridge on July 7 and start of the first Test against India at Lord's 12 days later as a possible opportunity to rest.

''I'm good at switching off and donating a load of my time to family and people away from the game and I do like to get away,'' he admitted.

''Once the Test series starts against India we don't really have a break until the middle of October so you have to have your time away to try to re-charge your batteries.

''It doesn't matter how well or badly you're playing, you have to have that balance.

"You have to plan your time off as well as you plan your practice - time off is just as valuable as the practice for re-charging your batteries.

''The difficulty comes in the summer when you have to play for your county and then go and do this and do that and it's difficult. The counties play for five and a half months, but we now play for 12 months, which is really hard.''

But Pietersen conceded he is not always capable of totally switching off from cricket and can often be found thinking about ways to improve or his next match even when he does manage to get away.

''This week I've been thinking about how I played against West Indies last week and how I can improve for this week,'' he added.

''I know as soon as the one-dayers finish, I'll be thinking about the Indian bowlers and how I'm going to play them.

''I play innings by innings by innings through my head but it's all mental and I could be thinking about that while I'm sitting next to a swimming pool in France.

''It doesn't matter where I am I'm still tuned in so I'm not one of those people who totally switches off and I always want to get better."