England batsman Kevin Pietersen has insisted that he will never change his playing style despite coming under a barrage of criticism for his performances on the current Ashes tour.
Pietersen has scored just 165 runs in six innings at an average of 27.5 during a disastrous tour for England that has seen Australia regain the urn with two Tests to spare.
In five of those six innings he has been dismissed while playing an attacking shot, but the 33-year-old refused to play more defensively, arguing that it went against his instincts.
"I don't think I've helped myself. But that's the way I play. I don't know how many articles have been written about the fact that I've got myself out, but I'm there to dominate, I'm there to take risks," Pietersen is quoted as saying by BBC Sport.
"If I see a ball to hit for six or a ball to hit for four, there's something in my body that tells me to hit it. I'm not the kind of guy who can think about knocking the ball down the ground. Clearly I've made a few mistakes - and that's been highlighted - but I won't change the way I play for anybody because I think I've been pretty successful.
"It's not a case of can't, it's just there's something in me that says if there's a ball to hit then you've got to hit it. And it works. On the good days, at Adelaide on the last trip down here, I scored 227. On nought, the first ball I hit from Doherty landed just over point's hands, yet everyone says it's one of the greatest innings I've ever played. You take the rough with the smooth. That is what happens."
The fourth Ashes Test begins at 11.30pm GMT in Melbourne tomorrow night as England aim to end Aussie dreams of a whitewash.
