I don’t normally like hearing Sports people conducting slanging matches via the media but I have to confess I wasn’t too disappointed to hear Kevin Pietersen’s riposte to John Buchanan’s criticism today.
Pietersen said “I didn’t react to it because it was strange that he made headlines. I’m not interested in what he has to say. Who is he? He’s a nobody. He had the best team to coach in the history of cricket. Anyone could have coached that team. He has done nothing else solid so I won’t even take it with a pinch of salt.”
This sounded more like the old Kevin Pietersen to me, the brash, arrogant one who used to get all the runs, get peoples backs up, etc – not the one we have seen moping around post captaincy. It was like a blast from the past.
All-in-all, the interview with Pietersen was heartening, despite the lack of runs in South Africa he sounded of positive mind and like his self belief is returning.
I don’t think it would be wrong for me to say that if Engand are to win this series we really need to have Pietersen back at his best and back as the batting talisman (but not carrying the batting, as he has done many times in the past).
I still don’t agree with the decision to drop him from the ODI team earlier in the year, but that is history now.
Pietersen has an overall average of 50.72 against Australia. On the last tour in 2006-07 he averaged 54.44 and was top English run scorer with 490 runs, a repeat of those stats could go a long way to retaining the urn.
He is currently a best price of 4/1 with Paddy Power to be England’s top run scorer.
Wes ~PFCNFS~
KP is hurting; everybody is taking the piss out of him for his consistently poor form. He needs to try and prove his readiness verbally, as his bat hasn’t quite done the talking so far. Let’s see if he can make it sing in Australia, and then judge whether he has returned to his old best or not.
Hmmm oh yes the Ashes are ante portas…. cheers Dean 😉
Cricket Betting Blog
Hi Wes, it’s probably wishful thinking on my part.
Over the past few months he seems to have just let everyone give him stick. I got the impression that he kept quiet as he knew if he replied verbally, that he couldn’t back it up with the bat.
From what he has now said, his time with Graham Ford seems to have given him some much needed confidence back (he cleary rates Ford, higher than Buchanan and Peter Moores).
You’re right though Wes, only time will tell if he can back it up with the bat.
tracerbullet007
i just can’t imagine KP not scoring runs against australia….he is the kind of player who needs extra motivation to score runs, and i feel that squaring up against the aussies in the ashes, is all that he needs to kick start his career again…
Rishabh
What he needs is a dead skunk on his head. Or as he calls it, ‘haircut’.
Cricket Betting Blog
Rishabh,
No, no, surely we can never go back to that again. That was awful.
He is a Dad now, the realization must have hit him by now that his children will see those clips when they grow up. How embarrassing for him.