Richard Bailey sports England seamers Tim Bresnan and Stuart Broad, former captain Michael Vaughan and limited-overs internationals Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler among his followers on the site.

He alleges he was behind the spoof Twitter account - 'KP Genius' - criticising Pietersen's personality in the third person, which was shut down after the England batsman expressed displeasure that some of his team-mates followed it.

"Yes the parody was me. It was for humour purposes only and as soon as I realised it was upsetting people i took it down," Bailey revealed on Twitter. "No professional cricketers were involved in it. I apologise if I upset anyone. It's not the business I'm in.

"I would also like to apologise to anyone I know involved with England Cricket who I may have put in an awkward or embarrassing position. At the end of the day I'm an England Cricket fan. When I saw it was potentially causing harm & upsetting folk, I shut it down."