Kevin Pietersen

Colin129

The Berbatov of the cricket world?

Undoubted talent but inconsistent and constantly frustrating.

This is NOT a thread about Berbatov, so its not for Berba haters to hyjack, alright? Its a cricket thread for cricket lovers who a getting a bit fed up with the Pietersen love in that is so rarely backed up by results on the pitch.

Spoony Youngblood

He's a bit of flat track bully, to be fair.

Adzzz

Pietersen > Berbatov tbh.

Colin129

Look at his test performances recently:

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | Cricinfo.com

Last 20 innings especially:

9, 22, 64, 18, 10*, 45, 74*, 99, 32, 7, 12, 0, 6, 31, 40, 81, 32, 44, 69, 8, 49, 0

Its not bad I suppose, but it hardly explains the plaudits he gets.

Colin129

This is irrelevent in the context of this thread...

Adzzz

Form is temporary class is permanent. Injuries may have taken their toll though.

Colin129

I'm not convinced he has the class and certainly doesn't have the form

Adzzz

I'm not sure how you can't be convinced he has the class, on form and on his day he's one of (if not the) finest batsmen in the world. He was vital in the ashes victory of '05 for example, against a very good Australia. If he hits his best form for the winter Ashes series I can't see past an England victory.

Colin129

That's fine, but when was the last time he performed?

We seem to be constantly waiting for him to hit form....when is it going to happen?

Adzzz

Hence the concern that injuries may have finally taken their toll. As you mentioned previously he is also a little over-hyped at times, so the weight of expectation can't be helping him.

Neutral

1st couple of years of watching KP, I was of the opinion he was a lucky SOB who would soon get found out...but the guy has gone around the world, and despite this dip in form(a lot of it started with his injury) still has a great average.

He has gotten runs against everyone...this is not some bloke who beat Bangladesh to death(we actually gave him a ton of trouble!!!!!).

He was not then, the saviour many were making him out to be, but nor is he the mediocre player that some want him to be labeled as. He is simply a very good batsmen, who is in a slump, but will come good again.

brewlio

The OP amounts to nothing more than pure muppetry. KP is one of the most destructive batsmen to have ever played the game. I'll admit he's had his problems of late with slow left arm bowlers, but you have to admire the way he gets forward against the quickies to negate the chances of an lbw being given against him. He has taken the game to new levels with a wide range of innovative shots and has become the talisman of English cricket in the absence of Flintoff. All this KP hates probably stems from the fact that although the man owns 186 cars, none of them are Porche's.

Colin129

I never said I hated him...

This is what I said...

Northstand

Nasser Hussain made the point that Pietersen should have taken the opportunity to have played lower grade cricket for a game or two in order to regain his form, as he has not played a lot of cricket lately. As BTV points out though, he still has a great average of just under 50, and will surely come through his current downturn in form.

Raees

I think he's a great player and certainly not a flat track bully if anything quite the opposite. He has the air of I can't be arsed v the little teams and needs to really have something that fires him up in order for him to perform.

I just think he needs to refind the hunger that drove him to such great form in the past and I believe the whole captaincy debacle from the past is still arguably affecting him and scarred his ego a tad.

Its all in his hands really, if he wants it badly his runs will come.

kietotheworld

Tevez is better than Pietersen I reckon.

EdWeatherall

And forget the IPL, scoring runs for England should be his priority, there's no doubt he's a very good player, and the runs will come, hopefully down under

B Cantona

Pietersen has proven his class and importance to England already

The comparison currently should really be to say Wayne Rooney when he's going through one of those troughs he happens upon in-between sensational spells

Not too long ago Pietersen has a 50 1st class average and it won't take much to get it back up there

I'd compare Berbatov to Cook, flashes of brilliance but not prolific enough, but immensely frustrating with aspects to his game that seem to hold him back, and frankly almost getting picked for the sake of it at the moment

Zen

Pietersen is basically Wayne Rooney when it comes to national teams.

Could be in the worst form ever and is still absolutely undroppable. He'll bring it against the Aussies as per, and will make up for not being there in the last victory.

Uncle Junior

Spoony Youngblood

Instead of a couple of green smilies, how about you refute his claims? well?

Allforone

Shane Warne, the greatest bowler of all time says exactly the same thing ie that Kevin Pietersen is one of the worlds great players and one of the few match winners in world cricket today, when a man whos played as much at the highest level as Warne in one of the greatest sides ever to grace the game says such things i tend to agree with him as he tends to know whats hes talking about, 20 years in the game tends to give him a decent idea on such matters.

Cheltenham Red

are they not good friends though?

Allforone

Does Warne really strike you as someone who says things he doesn’t really mean? hes as blunt as they come and whether hes friends with Pietersen or not it wont make a jot of difference to his views on the game as an observer, Warne also said the same after the 05 ashes before they really became mates at Hampshire so its clear hes always rated KP very highly. (probably because Pietersen has a great record against Australia which very few players do)

There’s a great mutual respect between the pair of course, and Warne like a lot of people can see how good Pietersen is, hes having a poor patch, it happens to every sportsman in any field, the fact remains he averages 49 in test match cricket with 16 carear centuries to his name with hundreds against every major test playing nation home and away, his record is undeniable hes a world class batsmen in shit form after an injury lay off.

zing

Bit rich coming from you, being someone who always posts a line and almost never substantially backs it up. Everyone assumes you know something because you've made a million posts on this forum, but no one's actually seen you argue a point... occasionally you provide some shit one liner.

On his day, he's certainly not the finest batsman in the world. There are plenty of people who're more classy on their day and have shown it more consistently. Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Kallis, Amla, Smith, De Villiers, Jayawardene, Sangakarra are all at least as good as him, and some notably better.

Pietersen's average is sub-50 against all of the proper test playing countries barring Australia. He has an average of 68 against Bangladesh and 57 against West Indies, who are both rather crap(in the case of Windies, rather crap since he started playing).

His average when you consider playing away is even poorer with an average of 40 in India, 43 in NZ, 33 in Pakistan, 25 in South Africa, 25 in Sri Lanka.

It's almost nonsensical to suggest that he's the finest player(I'm assuming you mean at the moment) on his day.

Having said that, I think the people who deride him as being over-rated are going too far. I think on his day, he can be world class. He's destructive, and his problem has always been with his temperament rather than technique. His technique's excellent in most cases.

I can't argue with the poster who said he's one of the most destructive guys to have played the game -- I haven't seen cricket long enough for that.

Colin129

He has the opportunity against Pakistan to silence all the critics. He can announce his return to form and give Aussies something to think about for the Winter.

The Aussies know of his ability but they must be fairly confident that he is not going to get a big score against them, Stauss is far more likely to offer that, he needs to send a message...

Cheltenham Red

Good post and on reflection you are spot on about Warne,he can be very blunt and probably wouldn't do his mum to many favours if asked

Adzzz

He'll score a century in this series no doubt, Colin has agreed to edit the title of this thread to "AdZz - is he ever wrong?" when this inevitability comes true.

Also, as Rimaldo said in the general, he's a great shout for leading run scorer of the ashes, but I reckon Strauss is our best bet for that.

Colin129

We agree on something!!!

Adzzz

He's a fine batsman and captain imo. Remember his catch in the '05 ashes where he literally extended his arm twice in mid-air?

I prefer him to Vaughan but I wonder how much praise Strauss really deserves as captain considering the team he has, we have great cricketers throughout.

We're the best side in the world at the moment.

Colin129

Possibly...what a turn around though...

Is there a country form index somewhere?

EdWeatherall

He and Flower deserve a lot of credit, just take our fielding, we are by far the best fielding side in the world at the moment, and this is down to both of them....and they seem to have a plan in wanting to rest players, which is working so far

Colin129

ICC Cricket Team Ranking, ICC Cricket Ratings 2010, ICC Test Team Rankings and ODI Ratings

Suggests we are in 4th...

Scrub that...its for ODIs only...

Adzzz

I don't think we're top, I think it's India. Australia are still quite high also, although they've fallen off quite a bit.

PS. No Zing I didn't mean he's the best of all time, (statistically that's Donald Bradman right?) KP is enjoyable to watch at his best form and plays audacious shots and this is the reason his average isn't as high as the others as he's prone to getting out because he goes for the shots other Batsmen whether rightly or wrongly don't attempt.

Adzzz

International Cricket Council

We're 5th it seems.

Laughable.

Neutral

that ranking system is horrible, I had a whinge about it on another thread....if SL had swept India, they would have become the No.1 test team in the world!

Who would have given any credence to that ranking?

Colin129

I really miss the Channel 4 coverage, I can't sit in the pub all day watching the test match...much as I'd like to....or maybe I could....

Colin129

Think that's ODIs only aswell...

Adzzz

Yeah it's silly, but let's face it ICC are like FIFA's slightly less wealthy retarded older brother.

You might be able to stream it mate.

Only adds insult to injury, 5th for us :/

Do you have a county team Colin?

Colin129

Right...this seems to be it...

International Cricket Council - Match Zone - Team Rankings

We do seem to be in 4th anyway...don't think it includes the Pakistan result though...