Kevin Pietersen gives Ashes credit to Strauss-Flower duo
English batting linchpin Kevin Pietersen has given the credit of the Ashes triumph down under to the men at the helm of English cricket, Captain Andrew Strauss and team director Andy Flower.
The English team retained the Ashes urn after winning the fourth Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground by a convincing margin of an innings and 157 runs.
Courtesy of this win, the tourists have taken an unassailable 2-1 lead in the five-match series. Even an Australian win at Sydney is not going to wrestle back the Ashes from England’s clutches.
Pietersen who is regarded as one of the most talented and feared batsmen in modern game, was the captain before Strauss and Flower took over the reigns of English cricket at the start of 2010.
Gradually the two moulded the team into a world-class outfit. Many feel that they have hit the summit of Test cricket by retaining the urn for the first time in Australia since 1986-87.
Pietersen who had an ugly fallout with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Peter-Moores-c81848 during his brief stint as English captain, recalled that Andrew Strauss had taken him into confidence before saying yes to the offer of captaining England after Pietersen’s sacking.
"When he gave me the phone call and said 'the ECB want me to captain are you OK with that?' I said go for it, Straussy, you're a top man. I said I'm a good mate of yours, go for it, do whatever you need to, and I've been proved right. It
was a good decision by the ECB," said Pietersen.
Since then Pietersen has been a total team man under the left-handed opener’s captaincy and played an important role in most of English wins under him.
However, in the Test format, he was struggling for runs and was in poor form during the home Test series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755.
The man for the big occasion turned his fortunes around with a memorable double hundred in the Adelaide Test smashing a career-best 227 as the tourists piled on 620/4 in their only innings of the match.
Pietersen added that apart from Strauss, Andy Flower has had a huge influence on the team with his calm, methodical and professional approach to the job of coaching England.
The http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 born Pietersen stated that the Melbourne win would be celebrated for a day or two but the focus is on winning the Sydney Test which would ensure a series win.
"They are very good at keeping us level headed and grounded and solid," he said. "This time we have come here knowing the preparation has been right, knowing what to expect from the crowds, from the public in the street, people in hotels
and taxi drivers to players out in the middle. We were told to beware of this and we knew what to expect. We always thought we would do a lot better than last time, I was confident of that and that has proved right."
While http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 l**k their wounds, England celebrate a remarkable achievement from a thoroughly professional outfit that had razor sharp focus the moment they landed on Australian soil.
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