John Buchanan worried about Kevin Pietersen's form in Ashes
Former Australian cricket coach John http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Buchanan-c48808, who is currently with the English side on a consulting role has said that the English team will be in a soup if Kevin Pietersen fails to fire with the bat
in the forthcoming Ashes. Pietersen has undergone a lean period with the bat and that has reflected in his off-field behaviour that has not helped matters for the team.
Buchanan pointed out that when in flow, Pietersen is a huge asset to the side.
However, he added, “If he's not scoring runs, he could become a major problem for the batting line-up and the entire team. [Coach] Andy Flower has been trying to work on that."
Buchanan iterated his support for his side, but identified Pietersen as the weak link.
“They seem to have a new mental toughness and they are more consistent, except for the odd glitch, which is mainly Kevin Pietersen," he said.
Pietersen was a part of the English Test squad in their recent Test series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 but scored only 109 runs in the four innings that he batted in. He was subsequently dropped from the squad for
the ODI series that followed against Pakistan but that seemed to have got his goat and he wrote an abuse-filled tweet on social networking website, Twitter. Pietersen later apologised for the same but was fined an undisclosed amount.
Such was Pietersen’s form that he has not scored a century in the last 26 innings and has had to go to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 to play for the Dolphins in the domestic first class games.
"Pietersen hasn't done himself or the team any favours with his recent Twittering," Buchanan said. "Two of the things that will be tested in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 are strength and unity and clearly he hasn't understood
his role within the team yet,"
Buchanan spoke about how the English team will start as a confident unit against Australia given their recent run of form.
Buchanan also said that the bowling coach, David Saker, would be one of the most important cog in the English wheel.
He said, “The most critical member could be the bowling coach, David Saker, with his knowledge of Australian conditions, players and balls and his ability to bring them together as a solid unit. The England
bowlers are all good players, so they should be able to adapt.”
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