I’m thrilled we don’t have to play against Kevin Pietersen, says Michael http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 – Cricket News Update
Australian captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KP-Pietersen-c1806 announced retirement from limited-overs international cricket last month, as they won’t have to face
the KP threat in the upcoming five-match one-day series against England, at the latter’s backyard.
The Michael Clarke-led Australian One Day International squad on Thursday flew out for a four-week long tour of UK, which will see them playing a one-off ODI against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ireland-c751, two practice games against English counties, before playing
Ashes rivals, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 in a five-match One Day International series.
During a brief media encounter at the Kingsford-Smith Airport Sydney before the departure, the 31-year-old http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-South-Wales-c823 cricketer said that Kevin’s decision to quit one-day cricket came as a shock for him. He however, said that
he was pleased that his players would not have to worry about countering the hard-hitting Natal-born batsman this year.
"As an opposition player to Kevin Pietersen, I'm thrilled I don't have to play against him in one-day cricket because he's such a good player,” said Clarke, who took over as Australian skipper from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/RT-Ponting-c2377 in April last year.
“He's had a lot of success and he's match-winner,” he added further.
Kevin Pietersen announced retirement from limited-overs international cricket last month due to a "relentless England schedule".
Though happy at Kevin Pietersen’s absence, Clarke warned his side against complacency saying the Poms still have a lot of match winning players in their squad and are a very good one-day side.
“England have a lot of good players in their team, they enjoy the shorter form of the game, they've got some good talent coming through and they're running high with confidence after just beating http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 [in the Tests]," said
the New South Wales middle-order batsman, who is also an occasional left-arm orthodox spinner.
Clarke has led http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 quite successfully since taking the charge in April last year – 29 wins in 41 ODIs he played as skipper. However, he is not satisfied with his side’s performance in the one-day format of the game of late.
“I think our cricket in the shorter form of the game of late hasn't been as consistent as we would like,” said the Aussie skipper urging his side to be at its absolute best in the upcoming five-match series against England.
The opening match of the series will be played at Lord’s on June 29.
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