Kevin Pietersen

[Eclipse]

We here all this talk about the future of England and there young players like Bell, Peng & Troughton but what about Kevin Pietersen he must certainly become avalabe soon and he looks like the best player off all of them.

When does he become avalabe for selection by England he looks a class act.

 

[marc71178]

I think he qualifies sometime in 2004 or 2005, but I'd describe more as a brutal hitter than a classy player.

 

[Langeveldt]

I think it is 5 years to qualify... Im not sure when he started playing county cricket, but im pretty sure it takes 5 years..

He should be playing for SA tho :!( :!(

 

[Eclipse]

I think he qualifies sometime in 2004 or 2005, but I'd describe more as a brutal hitter than a classy player.

Well England could do with a brutal hitter because they dont have many.

I remember those statistics brough out by Wisden a few monthes ago and England hit the least % of runs in boundrys than any team apart from Bangladesh even Kenya out hit them.

Any way his avrages are very impresive much better than somone like Peng who has crappy avrages in both forms of the game that dont even add up to 50 combined.

 

[PY]

Pietersen....................he looks a class act.

Didnt do too badly today did he? 130 runs off 109 balls with 13 fours and 5 sixes :O

 

[marc71178]

I'm hoping that the general lack of talk about him is because we're wary of another Hick syndrome (young man from Southern Africa, scores a lot of runs and is a useful off-spinner, then he plays International Cricket)

 

[PY]

Slapped a large double century today didn't he? Looks very exciting prospect if he can play for England

 

[Langeveldt]

Maybe a Graham Hick mark two? I hope he turns out better tho if he has to play for England......

 

[luckyeddie]

Hick was fine in championship cricket - the only problem was, no-one ever introduced him to quality fast bowling in teams. Sure, he'd play against the odd top player, but that was it. He got in the test side, and someone said "I'd like you to meet Mr Marshall and his pals Mr Ambrose, Mr Patterson and Mr Walsh". Graeme said 'hello' to them a lot. The problem was, he said 'goodbye' soon afterwards too. Fast bowling is gang warfare - and Graeme couldn't handle it consistently.

You never know until you get there.

I think he could still do a job in international cricket - for Zimbabwe. Shame it will never happen.

 

[marc71178]

Except in the current climate, he'd probably have retired by now!

 

[marc71178]

Speaking of Pietersen though, I think the way he scores his runs suggests to me that he won't have a great career in the longer form of the game, as he tends to be too attacking to survive against International class bowling.

However, he does appear to be an odeal ODI player, with his hitting and also the ability to slip in a few overs of off spin.

 

[Bazza]

I definitely think he warrants a chance in ODIs. Kind of like Ian Blackwell only better, which is surely good news.

Haven't seen much of him but I know he's more of a striker of the ball than an orthodox batsman. Still, can't argue with the stats:


43 65 9 2936 254* 52.43 10 10 44 0
640.2 149 1952 46 42.43 4-31 0 0 83.52 3.05

54 46 12 1454 147 42.76 3 6 28 0
245.4 3 1261 24 52.54 3-39 0 0 61.4 5.13

He's still only 22 as well, which I found surprising. I knew he was young but it means he debuted at 18 and was a regular by 20. In 2.5 years of county cricket he's averaging 60 for ~2500 runs, and nearly 50 in List A for ~1500 runs.

It looks like he was a genuine all rounder in South Africa but now his batting has developed and his bowling has been in less demand.

Apparently he has an English mother which begs me to ask why he is not eligible now? Anyway this is his third season of county cricket so I don't know what the ruling is re qualification period.

 

[Eclipse]

Looks like the England non wicket keeping version of Adam Gilchrist.

marc I dont see any reason why he cant score alot of runs as a test batsman sure county cricket is not the strongest competition in the world but having a well established avrage of 52 at only 22 years of age is pritty good.

 

[marc71178]

It's the way he scores the runs that will get him found out at the highest level.

 

[Rik]

It's the way he scores the runs that will get him found out at the highest level.

Because he hits the cover off it? Pietersen has a better average in 4D cricket, which suggests that he's a better 4D player than OD player despite his style. To be fair I don't give a crap how he scores his runs as long as he scores them. Gilchrist is a better Test player than ODI player and look at how he plays. Let's just wait and see.

 

[Eclipse]

It's the way he scores the runs that will get him found out at the highest level.

Maybe he has the natrual talent though to overcome that ??

I would be supprised if he cant at least avrage 38-40 at test level considering the strength of international bowling these days.

Also marc the game has changed I think you will find more and more players are becoming more and more aggresive.

 

[marc71178]

There's aggression and then there's aggression.

If he starts trying to hit the cover off the ball in overcast conditions against good bowling (I think he becomes available just before the next Ashes series), then I can't see him having too much success.

Without a reasonable defense, not many players succeed.

 

[Eclipse]

There's aggression and then there's aggression.

If he starts trying to hit the cover off the ball in overcast conditions against good bowling (I think he becomes available just before the next Ashes series), then I can't see him having too much success.

Without a reasonable defense, not many players succeed.

Without a reasonable deffense not many players avrage 52 in FC cricket.

 

[marc71178]

This is in County Cricket, where there are a lot of poor bowlers.

 

[Eclipse]

Do you no how much crap you would give me If I said that