Overated Kevin Pieterson

[King Pietersen]

But you could also say he arrived as an off-spinner, and took 18 International wickets at 72.72, so from that perspective, his career was a massive underachievement.

I always expected KP to have a massive breakthrough year where he'd average over 100 and be smashing everyone, but it never really happened. He'd consistently average 50, but never had that massive average-boosting year.

 

[Teja.]

Thinking about this, In the last fifty years, I'd only have Boycott and Barrington at the profitable end of his career as the English batsmen superior without doubt to him.

Gower, Gooch, Pietersen and Thorpe around the same league though. How would you ****s rank them?

I reckon Gooch is underrated in CW, he was really dire for parts of his career but exceptional in other parts and being a successful opener over two decades in the 80s and 90s was an incredibly tough thing to do.

I'd go Gooch > Gower > Pietersen > Thorpe

 

[harsh.ag]

Pietersen > Gower > Gooch > Thorpe

 

[Burgey]

For his ability he underachieved, if he had Gooch's greediness for runs he would of averaged well over 50.

I don't know about that. He may not have got out as quickly, but without the audacity he wouldn't have scored the runs he did.

When England won the Ashes in 09 and 10/11, they had blokes who consistently scored more runs than him and who ground it out for bigger scores, but he was always the bloke I feared most and wanted out ASAP. You knew if he batted 3 hours or so you were basically ****ed.

A fine player. Aggressive, dominant, entertaining and always gave you a chance. He was so good to watch. If he'd played in a less professional time he'd probably be remembered more fondly as one of the great cavalier players, like a Percy Chapman or a Stan McCabe.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Great batsman for me. As has been said before, he was inconsistent but managed to pull out more astonishing knocks than most greats. His 2012 probably defined his whole career. Lean stretches studded with knocks which most couldn't even imagine playing.

 

[Prince EWS]

Pietersen's consistency or lack thereof is really comes down to what consistency means to you. While "inconsistent" always seemed to fit while he was playing, it doesn't seem to so much now that his his career is over and we look at it as a whole.

He was consistent on the macro level of not having extended peaks or troughs, but inconsistent on the micro level of occasionally playing truly great innings few others could that belied his inability to truly excel at the daily grind that was international cricket throughout his career. The result was a largely mercurial player with a suspiciously consistent record over a long period.

I'd almost be tempted to call him "consistently inconsistent".

 

[honestbharani]

You can say he was consistent in playing amazing knocks in between a group of low scores.. And TBH, given the make up of the English side of that period, I think he helped them more by being that than being another consistent run machine without really playing "take the game away" knocks which almost all the other batsmen in that side were doing...

 

[Swingpanzee]

Pietersen added personality and a certain dynamism to the team. Whenever he player the opposition would realize what a threat he potentially was. When it comes to players like him, I doubt we can fairly judge them based on sheer consistency (and ftr he wasn't horribly inconsistent, just never went on a tear). He's proven he can be an out-and-out match winner, and I don't think that's overrated in any way.

 

[honestbharani]

To me, what defines a players' greatness was how much he meant to the team, and this guy meant the world to a team that was very very good (even if he wasn't there, they would have still been a bloody good side)..

 

[cnerd123]

I like the quote about him that was floating around on Cricinfo a while back...that he isn't a 'great player' but more a 'player of great innings'.

 

[Swingpanzee]

To be fair these are all retrospective opinions on him. Given the fact that, as someone previously said, KP never had a purple patch, I very well understand why someone might think he was a tad overrated while he was still playing, though. I read somewhere that great players are like summer, they're only missed once winter sets in.

 

[Coronis]

Thinking about this, In the last fifty years, I'd only have Boycott and Barrington at the profitable end of his career as the English batsmen superior without doubt to him.

Gower, Gooch, Pietersen and Thorpe around the same league though. How would you ****s rank them?

I reckon Gooch is underrated in CW, he was really dire for parts of his career but exceptional in other parts and being a successful opener over two decades in the 80s and 90s was an incredibly tough thing to do.

I'd go Gooch > Gower > Pietersen > Thorpe

I think this was part of the problem really, since England has had so few top class batsmen in the past 50 or so years, comparitively, that people would overrate him. In my opinion, a good player who on his day was able to play amazing knocks.

 

[harsh.ag]

I think this was part of the problem really, since England has had so few top class batsmen in the past 50 or so years, comparitively, that people would overrate him. In my opinion, a good player who on his day was able to play amazing knocks.

This made me think of him as a (slightly better) version of Laxman without Sachin and Dravid present to overshadow him.

 

[Jono]

Thinking about this, In the last fifty years, I'd only have Boycott and Barrington at the profitable end of his career as the English batsmen superior without doubt to him.

Gower, Gooch, Pietersen and Thorpe around the same league though. How would you ****s rank them?

I reckon Gooch is underrated in CW, he was really dire for parts of his career but exceptional in other parts and being a successful opener over two decades in the 80s and 90s was an incredibly tough thing to do.

I'd go Gooch > Gower > Pietersen > Thorpe

Pietersen > Gower > Gooch > Thorpe

Find it incredible and almost humorous how Cook is simply not mentioned anymore. Understand he's still playing but he was either unbelievably overrated in 2012 or is unbelievably underrated now.

 

[Jono]

Can't see how kp is overrated by most cricket fans. Never mentioned next to Sachin, Kallis, Lara, Ponting, Dravid for the most part. Everyone acknowledges pretty much he is tier 2,just how high may be debatable but it's pretty settled that he's just below that modern day great level. And I can't see how you can argue that he doesn't deserve to be in that level.

Fair rated by most with the odd occasional analyst or fan who says he is a great.

 

[watson]

Since KP is 'tier 2' do we still think that Cricinfo was correct in selecting him for their ATG England XI a few years back over the likes of May, Compton, Dexter, Cowdrey, or Gower? With the benefit of hindsight of course.

 

[Days of Grace]

Since KP is 'tier 2' do we still think that Cricinfo was correct in selecting him for their ATG England XI a few years back over the likes of May, Compton, Dexter, Cowdrey, or Gower? With the benefit of hindsight of course.

Yes, because I believe that KP is in the same league as May, Compton and Gower and when you have a top order of Hobbs, Hutton, Hammond, and Barrington, I'd pick KP to add some much needed emphasis to the scoring rate.

 

[andmark]

Before you start doing quotes of me from way back when please just remember I was about 12 and so I obviously wasn't fully mature then and often made sweeping statements.

 

[Furball]

Played innings that were as good as any if his absolute top peers, across the world but wasn't consistent enough.

i always expected a purple patch but he never really had one.

A lack of consistency is not an accusation that can be fairly levelled at Pietersen. Take Cook and Bell, his two closest contemporaries. Both went through spells where they didn't seem to know how to score runs, both went through massive purple patches with huge averages.

Pietersen did neither. He just constantly churned out runs at a 50 average (or near enough) for years. If any criticism can be levellee at KP, it's that he didn't have an extended period of dominance the way Clarke did after taking the captaincy or the way Cook did for about 2 years between 2010 and 2012.

 

[Furball]

Can't see how kp is overrated by most cricket fans. Never mentioned next to Sachin, Kallis, Lara, Ponting, Dravid for the most part. Everyone acknowledges pretty much he is tier 2,just how high may be debatable but it's pretty settled that he's just below that modern day great level. And I can't see how you can argue that he doesn't deserve to be in that level.

Fair rated by most with the odd occasional analyst or fan who says he is a great.

I'm going to be controversial here and suggest that talent wise he is second only to Lara on your list.

Where KP falls down is mentally. Not in terms of mental weakness, because he was incredibly tough and single minded, but almost in a lack of hunger. Particularly against the 'smaller' nations - I think his career would look much better if he'd spent the majority of it playing Australia, South africa and India.