It had been 21 months since Kevin Pietersen was without a century in Test cricket. Australia would have wanted this to continue in the Ashes series but it wasn’t the case.
Pietersen ended the drought by scoring a massive century against Australia and he ended up with 227 in the first innings of the second match. His last ton came in West Indies in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/March-c74391 2009 and after that he battled for 39 first-class innings to overcome
his under-par performance.
There have been many questions regarding the recent form of Pietersen. He has played some good innings but was unable to convert his starts to a big innings like he did here at the Adelaide ground.
In the recent years, England has also got some new players knocking at the doors for selection. That also would have been a concern for Pietersen. Some promising players like Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara and Owais Shah also awaited their opportunities to make
their mark in Test matches.
The selectors and the team management showed faith in the abilities of Pietersen. They knew that when needed, he will rise to the occasion. The hard hitting right hander didn’t disappoint his team-mates and the selectors. After reaching his century in almost
two years, he went onto make a big one and hurt the Australian team deeper.
Pietersen has proved his team that he is “The Man of the Moment”. The last Twenty20 World Cup played in the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 was won by England and it was none other than Pietersen who played a vital role in overcoming his opponents. He was the man of the tournament
after his magnificent performances in the mega event.
Pietersen had been struggling against left arm spin bowlers in the recent past and that vulnerability allowed http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 to choose Xavier Doherty into the squad for the Ashes. Australia was also aware that if Pietersen gets going, it would be difficult to
get him out.
There were some doubts that the longest format may not be suitable for Pietersen and he should only be considered for the shorter version of the game. The team management saw this differently, he was continuously played in the side as the management knew
about the capabilities of the player. His innings will silence his critics for some time now.
The English team has been struggling with some payers but the faith shown in their abilities has proved to be a very impressive step. Just like Pietersen, Alistair Cook was also going through a bad patch in the recent past.
Although Cook scored one century against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 but there was no other performance in the four matches which could have justified his spot in the team. He was also criticised by many but the faith shown by the selectors has given him a lot of confidence.
The left hander has totally looked a different batsman compared to what he was in the past year. He is the highest run getter so far in the Ashes and the Australian team has struggled to get his wicket.
He scored a fighting 67 in the first innings of the first match when the bowl was moving around and other batsmen were struggling to perform. Then he carried on his good start by scoring a massive hundred in the second innings of that match. He then went
from strength to strength and scored another 150-plus in the first innings of the second match of the Ashes.
England team will be very happy with the form their batsmen are in at the moment. Players like Trott, Strauss and Bell have been doing consistently well and the returning form of Pietersen and Cook is alarming for the Australian side.
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