Pietersen determined to make amendments by scoring a ton in Sri Lanka

London, Mar 24(ANI): England batsman Kevin Pietersen, who had a nightmarish last tour of Sri Lanka, has said he is keen to get rid of the monkey off his back by scoring a century this time around.

Pietersen admitted that he played foolishly last time he toured Sri Lanka with the England Test team, managing 126 runs out here in 2007, and for a man used to playing at the top end of the game, a return of 67 runs at an average of 11 in the UAE against Pakistan in the three Tests was 'unacceptable' as he describes it.

He also revealed his small goal to score a hundred home and away against every major Test-playing nation, and he remains two shy of his hit list, without away tons against South Africa and the Sri Lankans.

"I came here last time and batted like a plonker. I wasn't playing well at all. It was an opportunity for me to get an away hundred against Sri Lanka," The Mirror quoted Pietersen, as saying.

"I have got home and away hundreds against every major country except Sri Lanka and South Africa. If it's meant to be, it's meant to be. It was an opportunity for me to do, so it's a huge opportunity to do it no, and then try and get to South Africa at some stage. If I do, that's one of my little goals," he said.

Pietersen now believes he is back at his best now, and won't repeat the mistakes he committed here during his last tour.

"I'm back to batting like I used to. I found it tough to find what I had last summer, very tough to hold it. It took a little bit of time but I remember doing one session with Mushtaq Ahmed, I looked at him, he looked at me and it was like - we're back," Pietersen said.

"I could get nought and nought in Galle and Colombo, but the likelihood is I'm in a position now to go and score some runs," he added. (ANI)