Andy Flower has Kevin Pietersen’s Back
England’s head coach Andy Flower has made it clear that he fully supports middle order batsman Kevin Pietersen and has full faith in him. Andy Flower criticized the suggestions that Pietersen was “an outcast”, a statement earlier
made by Shane Warne, in which he blamed the English selectors for ousting Pietersen as captain in 2009, which entailed in bruising his ego. This has made him feel like an outcast in the squad.
Such a statement had caused a bit of a stir in the English dressing room and the coach felt it was obligatory for him to step up and hush Warne. Flower said that Kevin was in no way an outcast, in fact, the team was lucky to have
him around. The English coach said that Pietersen has been a great guy in the dressing room and is definitely a very dangerous player who gives nightmares to any opposition in the world.
Andy Flower believes in the concept of working hard and playing hard, and that is exactly what he has been training his players to do. Every member of the squad has to go through a very hard training routine, excluding no one,
which means that whatever the other players are doing Kevin is doing as well.
Flower believes that England are a very tight unit at the moment and this is the reason behind their recent success. The players are in complete harmony and backing each other while playing for their country.
Pietersen, who has been struggling with the bat, is still being considered as the main brick in the middle order batting line-up along with Paul Collingwood. The thirty-year-old Pietersen started his Australian tour by scoring
an impressive fifty in the opening match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Australia-c844 he played an average innings.
Before coming to Australia, Pietersen went to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Graham-c60529 Ford about the problems he was facing in his batting. The sessions with Ford seem to have had a positive effect on him and he has been eyeing
the ball better than before. However, he still needs to bring patience in him to stay on the wicket for a longer time.
Pietersen has been particularly targeted by the Australians even before he landed in Australia. Perhaps, the objective of these Australians is to get into the mind of Kevin and put pressure on him.
Earlier, Australia’s former coach John Buchanan angered Pietersen by calling him a weak link in the English team. Pietersen responded by calling http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Buchanan-c48808 a “nobody”.
Former Australian players believe that the Australian bowlers should fully exploit Pietersen’s weaknesses and bury his career in the upcoming Ashes.
However, Andy Flower has full faith in him and believes that Pietersen loves to perform for a big crowd. Kevin Pietersen is a genuine competitor and he will surely give his best against the Aussies who have been nothing more than
nuisance for him.
Pietersen will also be looking to hush his critics and charm his fans once the Ashes begins. It will be interesting to watch Kevin Pietersen’s battle with the Australian bowlers on the 25th of November.
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