Kevin Pietersen is prepared to accept an overwhelming consensus that his England days are done, conceding he has "potentially" played his last match for his adopted country.
The storm over his autobiography shows little sign of abating and the divisions between himself and his former employers at the England and Wales Cricket Board continue to deepen over claims in his book of a "bullying" culture in the dressing room under former coach Andy Flower.
It therefore appears inevitable more so than at any time since his post-Ashes sacking eight months ago that there is simply no way back for Pietersen to resume his outstanding but highly controversial international career.
Even so, in his stream of broadcast interviews surrounding the release of KP: The Autobiography – which went on general sale on Thursday – the 34-year-old has professed varying expectations of whether he could return for England.
On Thursday, in fact, he even put forward the provocative scenario that if ECB chairman Giles Clarke were to leave his post then that might just pave the way for him to play international cricket again.
In an interview to be aired on the BBC's The Graham Norton Show, however, he takes a more realistic view.
Asked if he thinks it is a feasible prospect, he said: "Potentially not, no. I've got to accept that."
The record-breaking South Africa -born batsman is phlegmatic about his future.
"What I've been lucky to achieve, I've got to be grateful for and happy with," he added.
"There's more to life now, and I just get on and do what I need to do."
He was ready for a storm to break over the publication of his book, but nonetheless has been taken aback by the scale of it this week.
"I didn't think it would ruffle this many feathers," he said.
"I knew I was going to tell my side of the story – which felt very therapeutic. But my goodness, it's gone mad."
Pietersen has been most damning in his criticism of Flower – "sour and dour" – and wicketkeeper Matt Prior, whom he cites as one of the main orchestrators of what he terms bullying in the camp.
Flower has made no public response – or, Pietersen confirmed, privately to him.
"(He has said) nothing yet. I'd love him to write a book, but it won't be funny!" Pietersen added.
Pietersen has acknowledged in most interviews, and in his book, that he has not been blameless himself – and he regrets in particular his decision to engage with opposition South Africa players by sending 'provocative' texts about his own captain Andrew Strauss. Those exchanges came after he had been told that some of his England team-mates were behind a parody Twitter account ridiculing his own personality.
"We all make mistakes, and I certainly made them," Pietersen said.
"One of the biggest mistakes I made was with Andrew Strauss just before he played his 100th Test match.
"I was involved in the text messaging scandal, and there was a bit of mix-up that meant one of my best friends – who was a fantastic captain and great cricketer – had his whole week tarnished, a week that should have been one of the great moments of his career.
"I regret that and I'm so sorry for that."
The two no longer appear to have a 'best-friend' relationship, Strauss having made his unprintable opinion of Pietersen clear earlier this summer when he thought he was off-mic in a broadcast studio.
Back in the present, another of Pietersen's old team-mates James Anderson – one he is equivocal about in his book – is mystified to be reading of the resentment which had been festering in the batsman's mind.
He told the Daily Telegraph that England must move on quickly, with a pre-World Cup tour to Sri Lanka in the offing, rather than fretting about the contents of Pietersen's book.
"We've got cricket to play – more important things to worry about than someone's book.
"The issues that have been brought up are sad really – the dressing room for the last seven or eight years when we've been winning has been amazing.
"You don't achieve what we have without guys pulling in the same direction. I can't get my head round it – he seems like he's just not enjoyed it for however long."
Anderson concedes that Pietersen must have felt he had to have his say, after the abrupt and apparently terminal halt to his international career.
"This is not an ideal situation, but it's different with Kev," he added.
"He never got a chance to stand up for himself in the dressing room, because the opportunity to be in the dressing room was taken away from him by the powers-that-be.
"He is now venting his frustration through a book. You never get a team where everyone gets on together."
