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.
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.
