Welcome back Kev.

Kevin Pietersen has returned to International Cricket after a fleeting appearance in England’s Twenty20 loss and yesterday’s One-Day warm-up game against South Africa A. It’s a big test of his bouncebackability (Thanks Dowie) at the start of this epic two-and-a-half month England tour of South Africa. But our 'Kev' is expected to be fully fit for the One day Internationals (5 matches) and the proceeding Test Series (4 matches) as England bid to repeat their performance of the last visit to the Proteas four years ago (South Africa 1-2 England in the Test Series), only with more success in the ODIs.

And it's great to have 'the big man' back after an achilles injuries which has hampered him for almost a year; since the Caribbean tour last February. He was supposed to be fit for this year's Ashes Series, but this proved to be a false dawn as he only appeared in the first two tests, and those with clear signs of the injury as he limped during each of his innings.

Perhaps you're thinking; "Hold on a sec. We pretty much won the Ashes without this guy, should you be branding him 'the big man'? I thought only Freddie Flintoff was 'the big man'!" Well, I'm hear to tell you otherwise. I think KP is England's finest cricket player now that Fred is off the scene; and even with FF in the team, I think it's a close call. What's not impressive about Kevin Pietersen's Curriculum Vitae? He averages over 46 in ODI cricket, and is just shy of 50 in Tests; he is currently England's highest ranked One-Day batsman at 17th and is just behind Andrew Strauss in the Test rankings, as he resides in 15th position in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings.

Statistics can perhaps only say so much, but this man has all the attributes to accompany them. He is brilliant. Simply brilliant for English cricket. His attitude is fearsome, his shot-selection is fearless, his mindset is also fearless. I love watching him play, his innings’ are epic battles between egos as much as there are about cricketing technique. But that’s cricket at its finest, a game played in the mind as well as on the well-cut green strip.

I think this is Kevin Pietersen's most memmorable innings, a swashbuckling 158 which made the Ashes safe in 2005 with a draw at the Oval. Four and a half years on, KP is now 29 years of age, and with almost a whole year out of the game (on and off), it could take him time to find that best form which makes him the world’s finest architect at the crease. But I’m confident he’ll rediscover it eventually, and I, for one, am glad to see him back in an England shirt and waiting with excitement as the series against South Africa gets underway on Friday.

Who the heck is going to play for England at the Oval?

This is a massive question. After the spectacular collapse at Headingley Carnegie in which England's middle order (Messeurs Bopara, Bell & Collingwood) amassed a catastrophic 16 runs for 6 wickets between them, potential substitutions have been banded around leg, off and centre. From Surrey's 39-year-old veteran Mark Ramprakash to Kent's 19-years-young Joe Denly, the media speculate both ends of the age spectrum as to who will replace 'Bops and Bells'.

South-African (born) Jonathan Trott is perhaps hot favourite to be the only replacement in this team (preferred at three to Ravi Bopara), assuming Flintoff is fit to take his place batting at number seven on his final test match in an England shirt (not that he is going to appear in any other shirt, which can't be ruled out for our 'new bru' Trott). That would mean Bell gets another shot at four, while Harmison is ousted for the returning talisman.

But how about wholesale changes, which robs Ian Bell of his place for the cataclysmic fifth npower Ashes test, and prefers instead the reliable experience of Mark Ramprakash. For a man averaging 54.35 in first-class cricket, a flawed statistic in itself when considering the player's form over the last five years, it is astonishing he is not more seriously been considered for selection since his last test match in the April of 2002. Some will say that he simply floundered during his international career. He had an England career which spanned almost eleven years beginning at Headingley in June 1991. In his 52 test-matches, he hit only two test-hundreds (the latter of the two intriguingly achieved against the Aussies at the Oval) at an average of 27.32, and a suprisingly slow strike-rate of 36.18, although one never associates Ramps with the big-hitters of modern day international cricket. He is more Neil Mackenzie than he is Kevin Pietersen. But there is something more aesthetic about Ramps' thrashing blade against the red leather than that of sturdy defence and the odd thump to the boundary (Mackenzie is more effective than he is pleasing to the eye). He has a graceful cover drive accompanied by a plethora of other orthodox strokes played with twenty years of batting authority. The man personifies the word 'patience', and looks in complete contrast to the hurried strokeplay of Ravi Bopara at the moment.

Onto personal opinion, I would most definitely swap Bops for Ramps as we come into land (as Mike Pilivachi famously said) on the epic Ashes Series (although perhaps not as epic as 2005 - i think the last test will make up everyone's minds). Like-for-like in that I would stick Ramps into the number three role. I would stick with Bell (I'm a fan - see previous post), not least because he'll be coming in off the back of a superb 126 for Warwickshire. I confess I know little of his Warwickshire team-mate Jonathan Trott, other than the information provided by cricinfo.com, which is that of a well-timed 121 made yesterday alongside 'the Shermator' and that he averages a solid 44.31 in first-class cricket, and is likely to at least double the test stike-rate of Ramprakash in his first game. He is described as 'aggressive' by the experts at cricinfo. And Flintoff in for Harmison to complete the eleven; an eleven I believe capable of re-capturing the Ashes.

Pietersen's injury rings a Bell

So with KP gone for the remainder of the npower Ashes test series. Enter the ring... Ian Ronald Bell?

Yes it would seem so. Bell will make his return to the England side for the 3rd test match in the highly-anticipated Edgbaston duel starting next week. I, for one, am pleased to see him back in the test side after a five month absence. However, I am sure that Bell won't be so pleased that his re-appearance is only due to the loss of England's most prolific batsman, Kevin Pietersen.

His record for England is solid but not outstanding. In his 46 tests, Bell has made 3004 runs at an average of 40.59 per innings. In 2008, he was named one of the Wisden Cricketer's of the year after impressive displays against New Zealand. He was ear-marked for greatness from a young age and burst onto the county scene with Warwickshire in 1999 and was in the Enland set-up only a year or two later. His first test in 2004 was against a touring West Indies side at the Oval and Bell hit a confident 70 batting at five for England.

Ian Bell is the ultimate form player. When he's in form, he looks majestic at the crease. When out of touch, as he was in the Carribbean earlier this year and back in the 2005 Ashes Series, you continually wonder if the next ball he faces will be his last. In the 2005 series, Bell only made a timid 171 runs in ten innings. But Bell has been firing on all cylinders for Warwickshire this season with 640 runs at an average of 80.00, with twice hitting three figures for his counties.

Doubters remain about his ability to withstand intense pressure as he will face next Thursday, but I firmly believe Bell has what it takes. I love watching him, an extremely elegant batsman, partially in the mold of Michael Vaughan, partially in his own mold. Here's what Vaughan has to say about Bell; "If he just relaxes and plays he's got so much talent. He needs to not try to play the perfect innings. He should just play it in his natural way and I'm sure things will happen".

So come on Ian Ronald Bell, prove me right!

Collingwood Back in Frame

Who will be England's cricket captain in three years? I don't think anyone has the answer to that.
Who will lead out the ten other perfectly dressed white warriors on Wedneday 8th July in Cardiff for the start of the npower Test Series against Australia. Few wisecracks seem to have the answer. Even good old Geoffrey Boycott struggles to offer a definitive answer.

A turbulent winter has seen Kevin Pietersen stripped of the honour of captaining his country in international sport. And who's in? Andrew Strauss at the moment. But for how long? No wins in five test matches against a West Indies side who's most recent test series win came on home soil against a woefully lacking-in-quality Bangladesh side back in 2003.

If truth be told, this winter has been dreadful. The summer ended on a high after recovering from the test defeats to a quality South Africa side, to beat the then top ODI side 4-0 in impressive style. Since then, the Stanford 20/20 for 20 was a public disaster, India trounced England in both the Test and One-Day series as well as being caught up in the Mumbai terrorist attacks. Following from that, the Peter Moores/Kevin Pietersen feud resulted in even less team harmony. Moores was sacked and Pietersen was out as skipper. Strauss faces an almost impossible job, and now he's injured, his team can't stop losing and Collingwood is in as the boss for the first One-Day International. Oh yeah and England don't have a manager either.

Should KP be back in? Moores has gone now which would seem to open the path wider but Collingwood is in ahead of Pietersen for tomorrow's crunch match with the Windies. Perhaps Pietersen could manage the team too...
English Cricket is crying out for direction.