Kevin Pietersen's chances of making a dramatic comeback into the England fold for the World T20 have faded considerably, after the latest round of talks between the England batsman and the England and Wales Cricket board failed to provide any breakthrough.
England dropped Pietersen from the final Test against South Africa after the controversy-prone batsman reportedly sent text messages to rival South African players, criticizing his captain Andrew Strauss.
The ECB asked Pietersen to make a public apology or provide evidence that he had not sent any messages. After the 32-year-old hesitated on both fronts, the ECB decided to omit his name from the Test squad. The batsman, however, has until Saturday - the deadline for submitting the final 15-man squad for the World T20 -- to provide an apology or risk losing out on his dream of being a part of England's World T20 title defence.
Pietersen was the man of the tournament for England when they won their first major one-day title two years ago in the West Indies and made himself available on Saturday according to the terms of his central contract to play all forms of cricket, despite recently retiring from the shorter forms of the game.
"The only route back for Kevin is reconciliation," an ECB source told the Daily Mail. "He has to put his hands up and say, 'Sorry guys, I sent the texts, but it was in the heat of the moment'.
"The sanctity of that dressing room is so strong that the apology would have to be made publicly."
South Africa manager Dr Mohammed Moosajee admitted text messages had been sent, but insisted it had been merely banter, while also denying the recipients of the texts from Pietersen were AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn.
"Text messages were sent, but it was banter," Moosajee said.
"Allegations that Dale Steyn and AB de Villiers were the recipients of the texts are unfounded, and until such time that the allegations are met with the correct facts and evidence, we shall not comment.
"This is the last time that management or the players will comment on the issue and our focus moving on is the team's preparation and how we plan to go about winning the next Test match at Lord's."
Even if an apology is made, however, it remains to be seen how welcome the batsman will be in the English dressing room, with the relationship between several England players already on a knife-edge even before the text message controversy erupted.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan believes it will take a long time for Pietersen to make his comeback into the England team.
"Strauss is as popular a captain as England have ever had," Vaughan told BBC Radio 5.
"It's been a mad, but also a very sad week for the England cricket team. There are no real winners, but one very big loser and that's Kevin Pietersen.
"I don't think he's getting the right advice. I don't know who is advising him but in my eyes they are not doing the right job for Kevin.
"We don't know what has been going on behind the scenes for the last few months, because the text messages could only be a tipping point.
"There's no way he could have arrived in that dressing room at Lord's on Tuesday morning. It will take time, but he will get another chance. I hope he does."
After the second Test at Headingley, Pietersen hinted at retirement from all forms of the game, after reportedly being disillusioned by a Twitter account that poked fun at the talented batsman, an account which has now been closed.
Richard Bailey, the man behind the "KP Genius" account, came out and apologized. Bailey, incidentally, is followed by several England players including Matt Prior, Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan.
"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 said.
"No professional cricketers were involved in it. I apologise if I upset anyone.
"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."