Kevin Pietersen insists he will not rush back into action as he takes his final steps towards full fitness.

However, the the England batsman has arrived in South Africa feeling physically and mentally refreshed.

The 29-year-old has spent a large part of the last three months recuperating from surgery to his right Achilles tendon - an injury that forced him to miss the last three Tests of this summer's Ashes.

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But on Wednesday Pietersen, who sported customised trainers especially made to protect the injury, looked more than comfortable during an hour-long net session at The Wanderers.

The Hampshire batsman faced up to several net bowlers as well as spin coach Mushtaq Ahmed and also ran between the wickets, while there was even time to rehearse his now prominent switch-hit.

It was his first outdoor net session since July and after arriving for the two-and-a-half-month tour to his country of birth on Tuesday, he admits he is now raring to go.

"The fitness is not too bad," he said. "I've done some rigorous training over the last six weeks, I've done a lot of work at Lord's in the last week before I flew out and I'm feeling good, I'm feeling fresh mentally.

"I had a bad day on my Achilles yesterday, but I think that was just purely down to the flight. I've woken up feeling really good.

"I'm certainly not going to rush things, I tried that a while back. I got an infection in the wound. I enjoyed the break to refresh my batteries, to get myself right and ready to know that I can compete again and want to compete again.

"But I hated getting injured because I wanted to continue playing to be a part of what was a successful summer. So that was where I was at, but now to be back in an England tracksuit is great."

"I hated missing fixtures for England"

Pietersen has endured a difficult year, which began with him as captain, a position he subsequently relinquished following spat with former coach Peter Moores.

He than had to endure the Achilles problem that forced him to miss out on the Ashes win before an infection caused more complications that caused him to miss the Champions Trophy.

But he is determined to leave that chapter behind him and embark on a new chapter.

"I think it's common knowledge what got on top of me during the first half of the year, things that happened back in the UK and the pressure was just mounting up," he said.

"Anything I seemed to do seemed to be a mistake and it was a great test of character. I've just treated this break as something to get my head right, to get myself back in love with the game.

"I hated missing fixtures for England, I really wanted to be part of a successful Ashes campaign. I wanted to be part of the one-dayers and try to affect that in a hopefully positive manner against Australia.

"I thought that guys were brilliant here in South Africa (during the Champions Trophy), so I missed out on a lot of cricket that I would have been playing. But I used the break to try and get my head right and to get myself ready, fit and raring to go again and I feel good now."

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England have impressed so far on tour, but completed their warm-up programme with a disappointing four-wicket loss to South Africa A last night ahead.

They play the first of two Twenty20 internationals on Friday, followed by a five-match one-day series and four Tests and Pietersen is hoping they can continue with the momentum of the Ashes, unlike their post-2005 performance which saw them lose in Pakistan.

He added: "I think the team looks like they're really on fire to do some good things in South Africa and to be really competitive.

"I'm very encouraged to hear all the positive things that have been said to me by the players over what's happened in the past couple of weeks.

"I just don't want us to make the same mistake we made in 2005 where we sort of went on a downhill slope after what was a fantastic summer.

"I think we're all encouraged and all really keen to make sure that this is a really successful campaign post such a successful Ashes as well."