England hero Kevin Pietersen admits he loves the big stage - and there is none bigger than an Ashes series.
Pietersen ended 21 months without a Test century in brilliant fashion with an unbeaten 213 as England reached 551-4 on day three of the second Test against Australia in Adelaide.
That gave the visitors a 306-run advantage over Australia and puts them in the box seat to claim a 1-0 lead in the five-Test series.
Pietersen confessed he had been dreaming about this series since England left for Australia and loves the challenge of facing the world's best bowlers.
While the home side's performance with the ball so far has been well short of world-class, Pietersen said a blistering start to the opening two Tests should be enough to get any English cricketer's 'juices flowing'.
"I wouldn't say it's the Ashes in particular," he said.
"But I do love the big occasion; I do love challenging myself against the best players in the world."
"When it gets tough I love that - and it's been pretty tough over the last 18 months. But this is a challenge I've really looked forward to."
"It's something where you get up in the morning as an English cricketer and think 'this is what it's made of'.""I remember leaving Heathrow airport thinking 'this is going to be amazing'. If that can't get you going then nothing will."
"To know that we were quietly confident that we could come out here and do a really good job, as an English cricketer it gets your juices flowing."
Pietersen admitted he was eager to get to the middle after sitting out the entire second innings in Brisbane as opener Alastair Cook and number three Jonathan Trott scored a record-breaking 329-run partnership before England declared at 517-1.
He acknowledged he was more than satisfied to finally post a big score after 43 in his opening knock of the series.
"I've got high standards, I set myself high standards to get 80s, 90s, 99s ... to get 60s, 50s does my head in," he said.
"You could see by the way I started I was trying to get to 50 in five balls. It was a long time to wait, I've never done that in my career before, but how amazing, absolutely incredible."
"It's brilliant to watch and see and long may it continue; long may it continue that all of our batters are in nick because we'll win a lot of Test matches if all our batters are in nick like this."
The England number four said his innings had put England in pole position to take a 1-0 lead in the series despite rain cutting short play on day three.
Pietersen conceded Australia could still escape with a draw but believes the visitors have enough time on their side to kill off the contest.
"It's wonderful to get runs and also put a team in a position where we can win a Test match in Australia," he said.
"I really do believe we're in a strong position in this game. Obviously the rain didn't help us out this afternoon with the plans that we were going to go out and hopefully produce."
"It would be a shame but I think rain or no rain there's a really good chance we can win this Test match. We can't control the weather but we'll still have enough time in the Test match I think."