Broad lauds Bell and Hales for moving team forward after Pietersen – Cricket News Update
England’s T20 skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760.
“KP has retired, so Belly comes into the one-day team and gets a hundred, and then, Alex comes into the T20 side, and hits 99,” Broad observed.
Pietersen, England’s star batsman, particularly acclaimed for his ODI and T20 performances, shocked the English cricketing community by formally announcing his retirement from limited-overs international cricket in May this year, roughly 4 months away from
the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 will be playing as defending champions.
The news that Pietersen, a veteran of 127 ODIs (with 4184 runs to his credit), 36 T20Is (1176 runs), and 75 Twenty20s (2236 runs), would no longer be available for England’s limited-overs matches dealt a devastating blow to the national side.
However, Bell and Hales have proven that they are more than capable of stepping in to fill the void left by the 31-year-old, as was apparent in the ODIs and only T20 England recently played against their visitors from the Caribbean.
Moved up to open alongside skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AN-Cook-c1026 in the first ODI, after Pietersen’s retirement, Bell scored a massive 126 which propelled his team to a mammoth 114-run victory. He also chipped in with a useful 53 in the second ODI.
Hales, meanwhile, displayed considerable batting prowess in the only T20I, played against the Windies on June 24 at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. Opening alongside wicketkeeper batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/C-Kieswetter-c1206, the 23-year-old Hales went on to score 99 off 68, before
he was bowled out by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/R-Rampaul-c2233 just one run short of a century.
“It was a fantastic knock on his home ground. He knows the conditions and he targeted the bowlers when he wanted to,” Broad observed.
“He played smart cricket and he didn’t give too many chances. It was faultless apart from trying to nick one and getting bowled. He was heartbroken, the changing room was gutted, and I think, 20,000 people were too.”
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