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KP will never change and I wouldn’t want him to. It’s a fact that he will get out like that from time to time, but there’s also times where those shots will come off and he will go on to make a big score. I think with him you have to take the rough with the smooth.
I think Prior fell victim yesterday because of the situation he felt he had to reign himself in. Flintoff had just gone chasing a wide one and Anderson was sent in as a nightwatchman, all of a sudden Prior had gone from playing well and confidently and scoring at nearly a run a ball, to thinking to himself "I better watch myself now as there’s only 3/4 overs left" Did that ultimately play a part in his dismissal too?
I think you need the middle order to play positively and aggresively nowadays anyway, that’s why yesterday’s run rate was so good.
Great stuff this morning from Anderson and Swann, a real bonus to get to the total they are and now surely there can only be two results in this match and you have to strongly fancy us with the two spinners providing they bowl well.
The idea that ‘KP will never change’ is a typical English cricket attitude. We tend to settle for the mediocre, for the easily-attainable. Had Pietersen been English, I am sure he would be resting on his laurels right now, content to be the big fish in a little pond.
He won’t do that though. He has the potential to be one of the all time greats and by his continual hard work and determination to improve, he seems to want to do that. The great players continue to work on their game, continue to strive for improvement throughout their careers.
More specifically, he has a weakness against ordinary spinners. He holed out to Harris at Edgbaston last summer and was troubled by Yuvraj in the winter, both of them like Hauritz would be regarded as merely adequate international spinners. Whereas there is a purpose in trying to hit the likes of Warne and Murali out of the attack (thus demoralising the opposition) he could happily have carried on milking Hauritz all evening. He has such a range of strokes that he can score freely off these bowlers without ever needing to take a risk.
And of course, KP’s dismissal. Gets funnier every time I see it.
The other funny thing that happened yesterday was when Siddle was in the middle of bowling an over and the cameras zoomed onto him whilst walking back to his run up, you could hear the crowd chanting ‘ your not Glenn McGrath, your not Glen McGrath.’ to which you could then lip read Siddle saying
"no sh*t"
Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
I find it both amusing and frustrating that people are happy to accept all the great points about KP, but whenever something goes awry, out come the claws. What about the switch hit – did you say the same then? That is essentially a silly shot, but one which has come off. Yes, he played a poor shot, but to say or infer that he is selfish, is very wide of the mark. I would also agree with a lot of Andrew’s points about his determination and motivation, but add he is succeeding, and find it baffling people are only to quick to criticise.
He played a poor shot, nothing else. Get over it. Only in England.
Ps. He top scored (again) in case anyone didn’t notice.
Ps. He top scored (again) in case anyone didn’t notice.
We did, Salse, we did. But to reiterate the point made earlier, ultimately outscoring next-best Collingwood’s 64 by just five is scant representation of how comfortably he was playing at the time, and therefore by extension how much things were set fair for him to rack up a big ton yesterday afternoon.
There will be days in this series on which 69 (or fewer!) runs from Pietersen would constitute an entirely satisfactory return. Ekeing them out on a seamer’s delight of a pitch (if one is produced) at somewhere like Headingley Carnegie before receiving an absolute snorter irrefutably would be. Yesterday’s foreshortened effort arguably – only arguably – would not.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
But by the same token, didn’t your mum and dad always used to tell you off for judging yourself against the worst, rather than aiming for better, when you’d show them your dismal report card and say, "Well, I still beat four other kids in my class!"?
Same principle.
Except it’s nothing like the same. He scored 69, the BEST in the class, as he usually is. He also hasn’t got to where he is in cricket by comparing himself with the lower echelon of cricketers or standards, and it’s grating to see the usual suspects come out after 1 poor shot, with cliche-ridden points and attempts to convince themselves their pre-conceived notions were correct.
I just don’t understand what people want sometimes.
DumbSlog Millionaire,
Care to explain? Very uninformed comment.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/article5683117.ece
HTH,
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
it’s grating to see the usual suspects come out after 1 poor shot, with cliche-ridden points and attempts to convince themselves their pre-conceived notions were correct.
Ever mindful of ones own accountability, I’ve just run a site search on Pietersen, and can confirm I’ve never registered any disquiet about yer men’s recklessness on these hallowed pages before this morning.
Permit me therefore, Salse, to think that the "usual suspects" must refer to someone else.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Pietersen is a great player, the best in England by a distance. Yesterday’s shot was terrible. It was the wrong shot against a poor spinner, in a needless attempt to manufacture a run (a single at most). Shot selection is an essential part of batsmanship, as is judgment. 69 against that attack on that pitch was not good enough for a man of his ability when he had already played himself in.
You don’t believe me, ask Geoffrey Boycott, Ian Chappell, indeed any of the great players who were watching and commentating on that yesterday. Pietersen has the ability to be one of the greats. The likes of Cook and Collingwood congratulate themselves on averaging forty. KP should finish with an average pushing 60. He should be comparing himself with Lara and Tendulkar, he has the ability to make chanceless double-hundreds. I want to see him use that ability to grind teams into the dust on a regular basis, to be ruthless and clinical, not make flashy fifties and forties.
Like Jeremy, I don’t know what the ‘usual suspects’ reference is all about, but par for the course on what is becoming the grumpy old man forum.
Sorry if ‘Usual suspects’ caused offence – I am referring to the ridiculous hyperbole in the media concerning one bad shot.
Jeremy – the Times? Hardly an authority on anything sport-related, is it?
Pietersen is a great player, the best in England by a distance. Yesterday’s shot was terrible. It was the wrong shot against a poor spinner, in a needless attempt to manufacture a run (a single at most). Shot selection is an essential part of batsmanship, as is judgment. 69 against that attack on that pitch was not good enough for a man of his ability when he had already played himself in.
You don’t believe me, ask Geoffrey Boycott, Ian Chappell, indeed any of the great players who were watching and commentating on that yesterday. Pietersen has the ability to be one of the greats. The likes of Cook and Collingwood congratulate themselves on averaging forty. KP should finish with an average pushing 60. He should be comparing himself with Lara and Tendulkar, he has the ability to make chanceless double-hundreds. I want to see him use that ability to grind teams into the dust on a regular basis, to be ruthless and clinical, not make flashy fifties and forties.
Like Jeremy, I don’t know what the ‘usual suspects’ reference is all about, but par for the course on what is becoming the grumpy old man forum.
I agree with nearly everything in your post, but have put the shot into the context it deserves. Criticise him for the shot, and most of all the selection after Hauritz pitched it where he did, but lets put it into perspective.
Pietersen selfish because of a poor selection of shot? Come on.
It seems any time he makes the semblance ofa mistake, the already-sharpened knives are out for him.
And, old chap, I’m far from grumpy; quite the opposite. I’m enjoying this cricket massively (maybe not the last few hours), and would just like the Pietersen baiting to be put into perspective, both on here and especially in the media.
What chance have England now? They need a quick couple of wickets
I certainly wouldnt ask Boycott to judge selfishness in players. He was the worlds worst…
Very difficult for the bowlers today. There was nothing wrong with their application and skill, but there was simply nothing in the picth. The two batsmen we didnt want to see set. Katich the form man and Ponting a genuine great
Compared over past few years with tendulkar and Lara of course (and has higher average than both). Which would you most want to bat for your life?. Tremendous player.
Who used the word selfish? Not me. Pietersen baiting? Absurd.
I said the shot was poor judgement. It was. I said KP is a great player. He is. I would say I have it perfectly in perspective.
Comparing KP with Lara and Tendulkar in the last few years is not all that relevant, seeing as Lara has been retired for several years and Tendulkar is near the end of his career.
At their peak, I’d choose Lara first, then Tendulkar, then KP. Lara scored double and triple hundreds and hardly gave a chance along the way – in an even poorer team than the current England one. That is the standard to which KP should be aspiring (and he is).
Who used the word selfish? Not me. Pietersen baiting? Absurd.
I said the shot was poor judgement. It was. I said KP is a great player. He is. I would say I have it perfectly in perspective.
I never said you! I agreed with your post, and thought it was in perspective.
Jeremy said he was selfish, and I combined two posts; quoting yours to say I agreed with your points, and using this to show I disagreed with jeremy’s charge of selfish play, and the Pietersen baiting that seems to go on both occasionally on here and very much in the media whenever he makes an error of judgement.
Ah. I”ll get me coat then.
Ponting is top class, I agree. His application today was as impressive as it was inevitable.
Still, I do hope the pitch offers a little more on the last couple of days. Presumably Lord’s will be as flat as usual and Edgbaston has apparently been rather insipid this year.
Can we be guaranteed a sporting pitch at the Oval?
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