KEVIN Pietersen has hit out at a variety of targets in his controversial autobiography.

The ECB, Andy Flower, Graeme Swann, Matt Prior... all have come in for large amounts of criticism in the high profile book which went on sale in the shops yesterday morning.

But Pietersen only has nice things to say about Hampshire, where he spent five years of his county career.

Signed from Notts prior to the start of the 2005 English season, Pietersen only played occasionally before moving to Surrey towards the end of the 2010 domestic campaign.

Pietersen appeared in the first six Championship games of the 2005 season but, after making his England debut in that year’s memorable Ashes series, only played one more first class game for Hampshire – in 2008.

After playing nine List A one-day games in 2005, he only played two in 2006 and 2008 and 4 in 2007.

Pietersen’s last appearance for Hampshire was in a t20 game against Surrey at The Ageas Bowl in 2010.

In his new book, Pietersen writes: “When I finished at Nottingham I backed myself to do well wherever I went. I looked for a new challenge.

“Shane Warne was desperate for me to come to Hampshire, where he was captain.

“Rod Bransgrove, the owner, had turned the club around. He wanted me. “I met Paul Terry, the coach, and I liked what I heard. “Everybody was friendly and ambitious.

“The wicket wasn’t great but the place was nice and the offer was good. I signed on the dotted line.”

Pietersen had made his England one day debut in the winter of 2004/05 prior to making his Hampshire debut.

After his Test debut, his county career was almost over.

“The price of settling in with England was that I had a bad start at Hampshire,” Pietersen wrote.

“A few months after the South Africa tour I played in a one-day series against Australia and had a fantastic run, then was picked for the Ashes and things went mad.

“In three years I played something like six games for Hampshire.

“So when the crunch came in 2010, Hampshire stuck with the guys they had a relationship with.

“What else could they do?

“I did my training at Lord’s and was very rarely able to take a spin down to the Rose Bowl. “The longer you are out of a county dressing room the harder it is to step back in.

“I have no hard feelings about Hampshire at all. They were good, progressive people. “They didn’t know, and I didn’t know, how life would go after the 2005 Ashes.”