Pietersen back in England to be with pregnant wife
Kevin Pietersen is likely to be allowed to miss England's first ICC World Twenty20 warm-up match against Bangladesh after spending some time with his pregnant wife.
Pietersen's team-mates arrived in Bridgetown on Sunday and are set to play the first of their two practice matches at the Kensington Oval on Wednesday, with the second at the same venue against South Africa a day later.
Captain Paul Collingwood reported his fellow Indian Premier League batsman Pietersen will join his team-mates in Barbados on Tuesday.
"Kevin's going to arrive in a couple of days," said Collingwood.
"Obviously Jess is pregnant, so it gives him an opportunity to get home for a couple of days but that will not be a problem."
Collingwood is confident Pietersen, one of a clutch of England players to have taken part over the past month in the IPL will be well-prepared for his country's latest attempt to win an International Cricket Council tournament for the first time.
"He's obviously 'cricket-fit', and I think one of the major things is that the guys who've been out in the IPL have certainly got their brains switched on towards Twenty20 cricket - which obviously helps," the England captain added.
"He'll just slide straight into the top order. The first warm-up game, he'll probably not play, but the second one he will come in. I have no issues with that."
Pietersen has been on record for several months that he will not allow cricket, or anything else, to make him miss the birth of his first child.
The due date is likely to come towards the end of the World Twenty20, which starts on April 30 and ends on May 16.
Collingwood confirmed: "At the back-end of the tournament, it could be we may miss him - if Jess delivers or shows signs of delivering.
"But that is down the line. We're solely concentrating on the first couple of games to get through to the next stage."
