Kevin Pietersen says the England team need to adopt a more "Australian" approach if they are to become the world's number one cricket nation. "Australia have a team made of greats, but they want to be greater," the star batsman told BBC One's Inside Sport.
"That's the mentality I wish a lot of our players had, a want to be greater every single day."
Pietersen, however, is currently an injury doubt for Thursday's first Test against the West Indies at Lord's.
The 26-year-old's absence would be a major blow to England, particularly as the side are desperate to bounce back quickly from their 5-0 Ashes drubbing and another lacklustre World Cup campaign.
Pietersen is desperate to play against the Windies and put into practice some of the lessons he learned during the winter campaigns in Australia and the Caribbean.
"I haven't turned into an absolute geek who doesn't like doing fun things and crazy things," he said. "But you have to go and do your hard work to perform on the field.
"The Australians are definitely winners. We copped it this winter. I had a horrible time."
He also admitted he had been targetted for sledging during England's unsuccessful defence of the Ashes.
"I took it as a compliment. If they're scared of you they'll try everything they can to hammer you and I did, I got it everywhere."
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While the Australians clearly rated Pietersen, the South African-born player has never been linked with the top job in English cricket, the captaincy.
When asked about the role, Pietersen said: "It would be an amazing honour but we've got a great captain (Michael Vaughan) at the moment.
"I look up to him, he's a good mate of mine."
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We've got a great captain at the moment - I look up to him
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