Cook welcomes KP progress

England captain Alastair Cook has given an upbeat assessment of Kevin Pietersen's ongoing rehabilitation.

Pietersen has not played competitively since a knee injury saw him sent home early from England's tour of New Zealand in March. He was subsequently ruled out of the return series on home turf, as well as the forthcoming Champions Trophy, but he remains key to England's Ashes hopes and his comeback is being closely monitored.

Pietersen had a meeting with team director Andy Flower at Lord's on Thursday, and was also back in the nets, and Cook told Sky Sports News: "It's great news for England cricket to have him back playing again. He's practising first of all and it's encouraging that he's progressing well from that injury."

He added: "Things are looking positive on that note and hopefully it's not too long until he's out in the middle."

For now, though, Cook's immediate focus is on Friday's first one-day international match against New Zealand and the global tournament that follows.

"We've got three games here in this very important series, then the Champions Trophy and we want to win as many of those games as possible," he said.

"Winning breeds confidence and any time you have recent success over an opposition you take confidence.

"It's a really good test in our conditions."