Kevin Pietersen is just like rhinos he wants to save… thick skinned, dominating but vulnerable

THICK-SKINNED – yes. Strong African connections – yes. Dominating of its territory - yes. And vulnerable – yes.

The similarities between the mighty rhinoceros beast and the lesser-spotted Kevin Pietersen are more plentiful than might be first imagined.

And now there is a link that should last many years, perhaps decades.

Pietersen’s retirement last weekend from professional cricket means he can devote more time to his latest passion: He wants to help save the rhino from possible extinction.

When he says that he’d rather be walking in the bush with animals than scoring a Test century at Lord’s, there might be a hint of exaggeration.

After all, hyperbole could be Pietersen’s middle name. But we get his drift.

KP actually retired in several stages. First came his final fall-out with England in early 2014 and he never played international cricket again.

Pietersen was considered toxic in the dressing-room but his departure could not have been handled more clumsily by the ECB.

'FEET UP' Kevin Pietersen retired from cricket aged 37 after glittering, controversy-laden career

Since then, we’ve had goodbyes to Surrey, Melbourne Stars and last of all a team called Quetta Gladiators.

Some people seemed surprised, but Pietersen had announced weeks previously that he would not play again after this year’s Pakistan Super League tournament.

Pietersen tweeted: “Lots asking what I’m going to do next...I’m going to take the same passion & hard work into trying to save rhinos from extinction.

"If we all help, it’ll be greater than any of our achievements in any walk of life! Let’s do this, team!”

He discovered about the plight of the rhino from Mark Boucher, the former South African wicketkeeper whose career was ended when struck in the eye by a flying bail at Taunton in 2012.

Pietersen was inspired when Boucher took him rhino-tagging and vowed to do something about it. Like with most things in his life, there were no half-measures.

A rhino logo was soon adorning his bat and equipment and clothing. He set up a company called SORAI (Save Our Rhino in Africa and India) and opened a merchandise store in Sydney.

There will be more shops in India and elsewhere. He wants to produce awareness-raising documentaries and insists as much of the money raised as possible will go to the actual charities.

Pietersen is having a property built near the Kruger National Park in South Africa and he intends splitting his time between there and his home in Virginia Water, Surrey.

It is testament to Pietersen’s profile that, more than four years after his England farewell, he still generates headlines and opinions, normally vehement in either direction.

He appears either to be a misunderstood batting genius appallingly treated by his adopted country or a self-centred iconoclast loathed by many of his team-mates.

He was certainly a heck of a batsman.

Although on the second rung of modern masters – behind Lara, Ponting, Kohli and Tendulkar and alongside the likes of Graeme Smith, Mahela Jayawardena and Shiv Chanderpaul – he could play great innings.

Innings, in fact, that few if any could match.

His 158 at the Oval in 2005 and his 186 in Mumbai in 2012 are in my top five all-time England batting performances. There were plenty of others, too.

He switch hit Murali for six in a Test at Edgbaston and turned left-handed and whacked New Zealand’s Scott Styris for two sixes over cover/mid-wicket in one-dayer at Durham.

This was astonishing skill and bravado at a time when such shots were virtually unimaginable.

He was Player of the Tournament in England’s only global triumph – the 2010 World Twenty20 in West Indies.

His England debut came in the 2005 Ashes epic, the greatest series of them all.

Back then, he was ambitious but less disruptive and Michael Vaughan captained him well.

In 2008, Pietersen himself was sacked as skipper when he said he couldn’t work with coach Peter Moores.

He then had an uneasy relationship with captains Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook and collided with an immovable coach in Andy Flower.

Perhaps, beneath the ego-driven exterior, there was vulnerability and he just wanted to be loved, to have his sensitivities massaged.

By 2012, the situation was intolerable. He sent texts to the South Africans about Strauss, he was suspended and then "re-integrated" at a string of team meetings in Oxford. He returned and played that brilliant innings in Mumbai.

By the end of the 2013-14 Ashes, however, Pietersen was a man largely alone once more.

A string of irritations and indiscretions – rather than one smoking gun – persuaded the hierarchy that his England career should be terminated. Pietersen responded with a vituperative book.

Some wounds will never heal and it is true that, among the nucleus of players and back-room staff that helped England reach No1 in the world, Pietersen is not on many Christmas card lists.

And that is a shame because he was an outstanding and significant cricketer who is now embracing with gusto a cause that he regards as even more worthwhile.