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U19 Captain
Kevin Pietersen – The Cricketers That Shaped Me
In the world of entertainment, those that are truly special are said to have “it”. Michael Jackson apparently had “it” and so did Muhammad Ali. What is “it” exactly? I’m still trying to figure it out but what I do know is and I suspect millions of other sports fans do too, is how to know when some had “it”. Kevin Pietersen had “it”. Right from the moment he sauntered out onto those African pitches to play his initial international innings. Even as the torrent of boos rained down, he continued to swagger and jive, smashing 2 centuries and looking better than anything England had had to offer in the limited overs game for quite some time.
Fast forward many months and Pietersen, hence forth known as KP, would enter his first test series…an Ashes series. He would end not only with the most runs but a sense of cavalier destruction not seen in the test arena since the days of Viv Richards. His strike rate throughout the series and throughout his career would be something unmatched by almost any other top class batsman. KP wasn’t just going to score runs, he was going to hurt bowlers. None of this was better opitimised then by his first and still best test century, taking 62 runs off 90 Shane Warne deliveries. English cricket would never be the same.
KP was more than just a batsman, he was one of those men who could change the culture of an organisation, in this case, that organisation was English cricket. It’s hard to imagine England becoming an attacking, engrossing limited overs team without Pietersen’s aggression and confidence (****iness?). They certainly would not have won their first and only ICC tournament without him. Not a chance. KP was a maverick and a revolutionary.
For someone like me, a boy in his mid-teens, test cricket wasn’t exactly alluring but England’s most un-English batsman would change that. Every test innings was built on ruthless attack, rather than sound attack. This wasn’t a man carryon on the traditions of Boycott, Atherton or Hussain. This was a man creating his own frame to bat within, one which showed the finger to his opposition and to the establishment. In an age of rebellion, as all teenagers are prone to experience, KP was the face of it all.
I’m not sure if I will watch another test batsman hit the sort of highs he did, century in debut test series (and a mocking of Warne), to a masterful double down under and THAT century against India, in India, beating India. KP pushed England to first after first after first. Whereas the likes of Strauss, Cook and Trott would scratch for their runs, KP would swing for them. It is rare to find a century (any of his 23 in tests or 9 in ODIs) scored at less than 60 runs per 100 balls.
Some players skirt around greatness, never willing to truly go for it. Kevin Pietersen went for it, time and time again. Sometimes he would fall flat but more often than not, he would reach the highest peaks and then saunter off the pitch. Job done. It’s a shame his career ended the way it did and we never got to watch him for a few years more. Who knows how many more firsts he could have pushed England towards.
