Controversial England star Kevin Pietersen says arrogance is what’s got him to his 100th Test match but that he regrets mistakes he’s made throughout his career.

Pietersen will bring up the rare milestone in Thursday’s first Ashes Test in Brisbane and faced a lively media conference on Tuesday at the Gabba.

The 33-year-old said he wasn’t sure whether he was widely despised in the cricketing community because he was born in South Africa and moved to England.

Many have speculated Pietersen might retire after this Ashes series, however he has made it clear he has unfinished business over coming years.

Pietersen wants to retire with 10,000 Test runs (he currently has 7887), he wants to win the 2015 World Cup with England and he wants to score a Test ton against his country of birth, South Africa.

Last year, Pietersen was cut adrift from the England team after sending disparaging texts about teammates, including then captain Andrew Strauss, to South African rivals.

However, Pietersen said England’s team culture was strong again and revealed he had dined with Strauss this week in Brisbane.

Pietersen made no apologies for his perceived arrogance even though admitting he’d often gone too far.

“I’ve got to be confident in my ability,” he said.

“As a South African coming to England, I had to really fight some tough battles and had to be single minded in achieving what I’ve had to achieve.

“I can’t help people thinking I’m arrogant.

“I think a lot of great sportsmen out there have that little bit something special to them that makes them want to be the best.

“I call it confidence. You guys call it arrogance.”

Pietersen said there was no issue between himself and teammates heading into the coming series.

He said he’d learnt from his mistakes and said his errors of judgment weren’t vastly different to mistakes everyday people made.

“We’re getting on really well, all winning together,” he said.

“We’ve all played a lot of cricket together … these things happen. You have ups and downs. We all make mistakes.”