LONDON, England (AFP) — England batsman Kevin Pietersen has several extra days in which to discover if he will be a member of the defending champions World Twenty20 squad.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) had originally made this Saturday their deadline for all teams to announce their final 15-man squads for the tournament in Sri Lanka starting next month.

However, the global governing body announced yesteday they had put this back until Friday, August 24, at the behest of several countries, with England now due to announce their squad on Tuesday.

An England spokeswoman told AFP they had not asked specifically for an extension in order to reach agreement with Pietersen, dropped for the ongoing third Test at Lord's against his native South Africa after admitting sending "provocative texts" to Proteas players.

She said the reason was that England did not want a squad announcement deflecting attention away from a Test the hosts must win to prevent South Africa dethroning them as the world's top-ranked side in the five-day game.

Pietersen was England's man of the tournament when they won the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean two years ago -- the first time they'd lifted a major piece of ICC silverware.