The highs and lows of Kevin Pietersen

England batsman Kevin Pietersen was dropped from the One-day squad to tour West Indies on Tuesday. This decision brought an abrupt end to the South African-born cricketer's career.

Here is a look back at the highlights that marked his controversial career.

* Born June 27, 1980, Pietermaritzburg, Natal, South Africa.

*Right-hand batsman, occasional off-spinner.

* He qualified to play for England in September 2004 because of his English-born mother. Selected for One-Day tour of Zimbabwe where he scored 104 runs in three innings. Scored three centuries in a subsequent ODI series in South Africa.

* He made two half-centuries on his Test debut against Australia in Lord's in 2005. His knock of 158 in final match at The Oval helped secure the draw which gave England the Ashes.

* Sparked controversy by switch-hitting Scott Styris for two sixes in first One-Day International against New Zealand in 2008.

* Named England Test and One-day captain in August 2008 after Michael Vaughan and Paul Collingwood resigned from their respective jobs.

* His stint as captain was short-lived as in January 2009 Pietersen resigned after a fall-out with coach Peter Moores. Pietersen slammed Moores in a report to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) after a tour of India in late 2008 and the ECB reacted by sacking both captain and coach, saying there was an "irretrievable breakdown" in the relationship between the two men.

* Part of successful Ashes-winning sides in 2005, 2009, 2010-2011 and 2013.

* He played in 104 Test matches, 136 One-Day Internationals and 37 Twenty20 internationals. He scored 8181 Test runs with a high score of 227, 4440 ODI runs and 1176 Twenty20 runs.

* He was fined in September 2010 after posting a Twitter message announcing that he had been dropped for the One-day series at home to Pakistan. The message contained an expletive.

* The former England captain apologised publicly, insisting on Surrey TV that his comments "had not been for the public domain."

* The ECB said Pietersen had been dropped so that he could regain form with his county Surrey after a run of disappointing scores.

* Pietersen announced his retirement from all forms of international limited-overs cricket in May 2012.

* Although he retracted this, his relationship with the ECB soured and he was dropped for the final Test of the series against South Africa in a row over "provocative" text messages.

* 2013: Played in victorious home Ashes series, scoring one century in five Tests, and the 5-0 defeat in Australia in which he failed to make a hundred.

* February, 2014: Dropped from One-day squad to play West Indies, signalling end of his international career.