Kevin Pietersen: A Great England Cricketer.

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Kevin Pietersen: A Great England Cricketer.

Postby Arthur Crabtree » Mon Feb 10, 2014 9:39 pm

When Kevin Pietersen made his debut against Australia at Lord's in 2005, he didn't come into the side as the kind of deus ex machina for English cricket that fellow African born Graeme Hick seemed to be. Kevin was more of a performance artist, a dramatist, who appeared to operate only partly in terms of strategy and technique, but also, thrillingly, of imagination. So by the end of that summer, the summer of all England fans' sporting lives, when he was challenged with bringing the Ashes home for England by drawing the Oval Test on September 12, he did it by scoring 158 off 187 balls. His partnership with Ashley Giles, of 109 in 25 overs, that won the series, didn't just secure the draw. It felt like a buddy movie, between the persevering Giles, and KP the showman. It felt perfect. Even a bit moving.

How must it be, to reach that level of exaggerated, theatrical fulfilment so early in your career, or even your life? How can you begin to build a career in the shadow of that amazing day? Did he ever deliver on the possibilities glimpsed that series? Next he showed his versatility with a hundred against spin and the disconcerting pace of Shoaib Akhtar in Faisalabad. But England lost in Pakistan, and the draw in India, which really was a great result, was seen as a failure. Pietersen's 87 in Nagpur against Kumble and Harbhajan was a stunning innings, technically beyond the reach of his team mates, but there was disappointment as realisation took root that England were not to be the era defining Test team that we hoped they might.

People talked of post Ashes malaise. There wasn't the ambition and intensity on the field that we grew used to in the early years of Michael Vaughan's captaincy, as key players got injured or lost their way. England drew with Sri Lanka, and beat Pakistan in a low key summer more memorable for ball tampering allegations. In Birmingham, Pietersen switch hit Muralitharan into the Hollies Stand, an astonishing feat that showcased KP the innovator. Pietersen was audacious and had the crucial self belief to make his daydreams real. That winter, in spite of his huge partnership with Paul Collingwood at the Adelaide Oval, England were dismally thrashed 5-0 by Australia. The arc of England's ambitions had come to earth; the Fletcher era ended as most do, in a definitive defeat.

And so, Pietersen was fated to be at his peak, in a period when English cricket struggled to remain credible. Which is really where my support of Kevin started. When sportspeople fail to achieve the goals we set for them, supporters can feel personally let down. KP and all the England players endured a lot of criticism, even abuse in this time, which I didn't think was right. And really without KP, England would have scraped along the bottom of the ranking. Between the end of the Ashes of 2005, and the Flower era in 2009, Pietersen averaged over 50 with 16 hundreds (at a strike rate of 62). He scored 1000 more runs than the next performing batter, Andrew Strauss. He kept England alive in this period, though often criticised for shot selection, or even character. But, really, if ever in my lifetime an England batter has been world class, Kevin was then. But his runs were lost in the struggles of others, and led to little team success. Eventually, Pietersen was broken, when the ECB leaked details of his report on Peter Moores, and he was sacked as captain.

Some of Kevin's most memorable innings came in the years after 2009, under Andy Flower. At the Adelaide Oval in 2010 Australia became clueless how to stop him, as he hit 227, without even appearing challenged. At Lord's in 2011, he resisted the Indian seamers on day one under cloud, and them destroyed them the next day in the sunshine. In 2012 came his final classic trilogy, at the Wankhede, Colombo and against South Africa at Headingley. But we were nearing the end. England were in decline under Flower, as they had been before under Fletcher and Moores. This time, Kevin didn't have the vitality to carry a failing team. And it was just too hard being him too. If he could have recovered beyond his second Ashes whitewash, without Flower in charge, we'll never know.

Kevin Pietersen is the second highest scorer of hundreds for England. He leaves us with the tenth best England average ever, and the nine ahead of him are legends. He retires with the best average since Boycott and but for his last game, it would have been Barrington. For all people said he threw away his wicket, his conversion rate from 50 to 100 is better than Hutton, Boycott and Barrington. But he played shots that none of these would have dreamed of. He entertained a lot of people. And he was present at some of British sports most enduring moments. He didn't fulfil all of his promise. No one does. But then KP was always judged by different standards.

Kevin Pietersen, 8181 Test runs and 23 hundreds, average 47.28.
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Re: Kevin Pietersen: A Great England Cricketer.

Postby Gingerfinch » Mon Feb 10, 2014 9:48 pm

Nice one, Arthur.

He certainly had that Viv Richards like aura about him when he walked out to bat, and like Viv, played some memorable knocks. Not as consistent as some of his fellow players from his era, but just as exciting.
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Re: Kevin Pietersen: A Great England Cricketer.

Postby Arthur Crabtree » Mon Feb 10, 2014 9:50 pm

I think he became less consistent in recent years. But he was in his first five years. Latterly, he was a player of great innings. In his best period, he often batted with erratic support too.
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Re: Kevin Pietersen: A Great England Cricketer.

Postby Arthur Crabtree » Mon Feb 10, 2014 9:55 pm

I'll do a bit on KP off the field over the next few days. This is my on field story!
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Re: Kevin Pietersen: A Great England Cricketer.

Postby Alviro Patterson » Mon Feb 10, 2014 10:11 pm

Your talents are wasted on here Arthur, surely this article is more suited to mainstream media and publication.
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Re: Kevin Pietersen: A Great England Cricketer.

Postby KipperJohn » Mon Feb 10, 2014 10:24 pm

Good stuff Arthur. I think the period 06-09 is the most telling and I must confess your analysis brings into focus Pietersen's contribution to England in a way I hadn't properly seen before.
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Re: Kevin Pietersen: A Great England Cricketer.

Postby Arthur Crabtree » Mon Feb 10, 2014 10:29 pm

Thanks chaps. I tried to keep it short, believe it or not. I've posted about individual innings before. Probably not the best time to post this as everyone has a bit of KP fatigue right now.
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Re: Kevin Pietersen: A Great England Cricketer.

Postby GGAS » Mon Feb 10, 2014 11:15 pm

Better than anything on KP I've read in the papers. Cheers AC :salute
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Re: Kevin Pietersen: A Great England Cricketer.

Postby englandmad666 » Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:00 am

Best report i have read on KP since this whole mess started, simply stunning and almost read like and obituary for english cricket. Top work :salute
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Re: Kevin Pietersen: A Great England Cricketer.

Postby meninblue » Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:13 am

IMO Cook and KP are two of England's greatest test batsmen i have seen. Avg of 47 is what only couple of England batters have.

Decent enough player for the ODI format as well.But in comparison to his team mates, he is one of the top two alongside Trott.There were talks that he was suspect against SLA's. I remember Dhoni immediately bought Yuvi at times when KP came in to bat. So did other captains.Average of 40 is still a good one with SR of 80.

Got to watch him at Wankhede when he was fielding at long on. One could hear negative taunts to Harby ,ZAK etc, but the crowd got along very well with the Mumbai crowd.
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Re: Kevin Pietersen: A Great England Cricketer.

Postby Arthur Crabtree » Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:24 am

Thanks EM and GG. An obituary!I am feeling a bit disappointed by this, and with the power grab at the ICC, cricket doesn't feel that enticing at the moment. Even so, I was still grabbed by the Aukland Test, so maybe it's temporary.
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Re: Kevin Pietersen: A Great England Cricketer.

Postby Arthur Crabtree » Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:28 am

Hi Adi. You hear that he spent quite a lot of time with fans, signing autographs etc. And was polite in interviews. Some turned that into a negative, saying 'he was good with pr' as if it was manipulation. That didn't seem reasonable. I'll get on to the off field stuff sometime.
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Re: Kevin Pietersen: A Great England Cricketer.

Postby D/L » Tue Feb 11, 2014 11:17 am

Talented, but came nowhere near to greatness due mostly to his inability to bat according to the needs of the situation. Also, a complete ****.
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Re: Kevin Pietersen: A Great England Cricketer.

Postby meninblue » Tue Feb 11, 2014 11:18 am

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Hi Adi. You hear that he spent quite a lot of time with fans, signing autographs etc. And was polite in interviews. Some turned that into a negative, saying 'he was good with pr' as if it was manipulation. That didn't seem reasonable. I'll get on to the off field stuff sometime.


Arthur, like i said he got much better treatment at Wankhede than what some Indian cricketers got. So did Monty. Those two were the most liked of the 11 England cricketers who were on field. All this praise given to them while there were some negative and mocking comments directed at Indian and English cricketers.Offcourse the good shots ,balls and fielding by other England cricketers were appreciated with claps as well, but KP and Monty were popular for not their just runs and wickets respectively.He was waving hands at fans from long on and enjoying it as well on boundary.Not many cricketers enjoy fielding there. I doubt other England cricketers had got same positive popularity if they were on the boundary line.I can't imagine what Broad would have got had he been in. Water bottles,4 and 6 cards turned into rockets,6*6 reminders etc :lol:

Indeed,KP seemed to be very polite imo as well the way he was getting along with the crowd.The other reason KP is more popular here is because he is playing in IPL and never publicly criticized our IPL or saying that he prefers tests to IPL etc like some other players.Fans will pounce on every small reason even if cricketer is justified to take
his own decisions in his career.Taking this further, i remember that there were serial bomb blasts (2011) in Mumbai and still England toured here for 5 one dayers in India even though it was a huge risk and the tour could have easily been cancelled by ECB.In fact they played one ODi in Mumbai :salute England cricket team got lot of appreciation for that from Indian fans.India won the series but England won the fans more in that particular series.So things like this then autographs ,getting well with crowd make positive influence on fans.Crowd here is crazy.You know when we play 20,40,50 overs matches, some people will gather to see us play while they being outside
for work.Theys tand and watch even the club cricket matches here.Such is the height of cricket popularity here and it is understandable that international cricekters acknowledge fans request.

Turning down an autograph is worse thing a cricketer can do to his reputation in fans circle.I remember when our club team went to Wankhede in 1992, to bowl to the likes of Sherwin Campbell,Lara etc. and help them with their preparation in nets.After the nets practice was over one young boy went to get autograph of Lara.Lara declined it for some reason.Since then Lara is still infamous in our club for non cricketing reasons only.Then a Mumbai fan compares him with how Sachin behaves off the field due to their experience about Sachin.if Sachin declines, he still declines politely and the decline is still considered as okay by fans here,because everyone knows he won't say no because he wants to say no.There must be some valid reason.Not the same with other cricketers though. Trust me Sachin is so accessible,that he has even signed autographs on road while he is talking with his local friends, even in Wankhede dressing room with our club cricketers.I have pics of that.But i have lost the autograph he signed for me on someones business card that i had.Clubcricketers call their clubmates so that they also can get a photo with Sachin and Sachin obliges evne if the club cricketers get in the stadium room where he is sighted.Sachin is indeed popular because of his behavior off field and of the so called fan base/PR activity.Whats wrong in signing a autograph for cricket fans in a country which is mad about cricket.Our cricket bats used to carry signs of cricketers.A cricketers sign means so much to fans.Whats wrong in signing one if it makes a fan happy. So i do understand that all cricketers take time to sign autographs etc and maintain the fan base.It should not be used to criticize a player.KP and Monty ticked all boxes for cricketing and non cricketing reasons.I won't mind cricketers showing that they value the fan base.Do all that after priority is given to concentration on the game on hand.

The only time KP has got criticism from Indian fans is recently when he said he wanted fans to give him "God Like" status which was given to Sachin and Lara.The comments to the times of India article that carried those statements is the one which i am referring too.
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Re: Kevin Pietersen: A Great England Cricketer.

Postby Gingerfinch » Tue Feb 11, 2014 11:26 am

D/L wrote:Talented, but came nowhere near to greatness due mostly to his inability to bat according to the needs of the situation. Also, a complete ****.


There were times when he did to be fair. Maybe he gave up caring on this last ashes tour?
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