Sorry about that - he was borne in Johannesburg and turned out to be a real POM. For SA he was the real BUNNY in the English Test Team and the POMS took the losses in a bad way. If he did not announce his retiement - he was going to be fired - so it really is a face-saver by him.
However, the interesting question is - what now about Pietersen? Is he going to be temporarily forgiven and brought back into the POM teams? I say temporarily - since the POMS really do not accept foreigners and he definitely is not one of the inner clique comprising Anderson, Bell, Swan, Cook and Broad - who allegedly hates his guts and undermines him all the time The real bad buggers are Bell, Swan and Broad and I cannot see how lasting peace between them and Pietersen will be possible.