London, Aug 12 - Kevin Pietersen's chances of returning to the England side suffered a blow due to an infection following his Achilles heel surgery last month.

Pietersen was clearly not fit during England's victory over Australia at Lord's in the ongoing Ashes series last month. He was ruled out from the rest of the series and underwent surgery on his right achilles tendon after the Test.

However, it was revealed Wednesday that the player had developed an infection in the scar tissue. He was released from the hospital Tuesday and will have to follow a course of antibiotics. But he cannot start his comprehensive rehabilitation programme until the wound has healed. There will be a further assessment at the end of the week.

'Medical advice is that a complication can occur post surgery, and in this case resulted despite Kevin closely following specialist advice on management of the wound.