Pietersen devastated and heartbroken

London: He is out of the Ashes series after an unbroken run of 54 Tests since his debut for England against Australia in 2005 and now Kevin Pietersen will not have the chance to try to reproduce his Ashes winning century at The Oval. Sportsmail's Nasser Hussain talked to him in an exclusive interview for Sky Sports.

Nasser HUSSAIN: How disappointed are you that you won't play any more in this Ashes series?

KEVIN PIETERSEN: Devastated. Heartbroken. Gutted. These are all words that kill me. I love playing Test cricket. This Ashes series for an England cricketer is huge. Playing against Australia is massive. It's hurt me a lot. It really has hurt me a lot.

But I'm a positive person. I like to try to stay as positive as I can be. However, I'm finding it very difficult at the moment, knowing that on Thursday I'll be at Edgbaston but only to watch and support the boys, which is important to do.

To know that I can't be playing will kill me inside. There's nothing I can do about it. I've had achilles surgery and I know I can't help the team on the field and play the way I can. I just have to bite the bullet and, unfortunately, that's what I've had to do.

Ian Bell is the man lined up to take your place. Will he be able to fill your boots?

Belly had a good time of it and then he had a bit of a bad time, and obviously he's been left out, unfortunately for him.

But he's a world-class player and I think being left out for so long has hardened Belly up, will have toughened him up and he will use this opportunity well. So I don't see him struggling at all during the next three Test matches. I hope he doesn't. I hope he comes in and does really, really well.

What have you made of the Australians? You played in 2005 and 2006-07. What do you think of this present team in comparison?

Different. Very, very different. They have still got their fantastic players and a team led by a great player in Ricky Ponting. But very different, because they don't have the presence and personalities like the previous teams we played.

Do you sense they have slightly lost their aura and do you sense that one or two of them, like Mitchell Johnson, are struggling and do you feel that in the middle?

We certainly know that he's struggling and we can see it. I think everybody can see that he's struggling. Yeah, it's something that past teams prey on - weaknesses in opposition.

I think the good thing we're doing in this England team is that we're preying well on guys that aren't playing well in the opposition.