Kevin Pietersen to open the innings for England in ICC World Cup 2011
British batsman, Kevin Pietersen, has said that he is going to open the innings for the English team during the ICC World Cup 2011 along with his captain, Andrew Strauss. This move has not come as a surprise because Strauss failed to find ample support at the top of the order in the recently concluded seven match One Day International (ODI) series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746. England tried wicket-keepers Mat Prior and Steve Davies to open the innings in recent ODI’s without a lot of success.
Pietersen has scored a couple of tons in the previous edition of the ICC World Cup in the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 but England failed to make an impression during the tournament. The English team was criticised for playing conservative cricket in the tournament. This time Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss have different plans and opening the innings with Pietersen is just a part of it.
Pietersen looks quite happy about with his new role and wants to make a huge impact with his bat. Pietersen said, "I'm excited by it, the team are excited by it and I'm looking forward to it. It's a nice positive move going into the World Cup. We spoke about it going into the end of the Australia tour. We feel at the top of the innings is a really nice time to bat."
Kevin Pietersen is rated as one of the best players in cricket today. He has the un-canny ability to change the course of a match single handedly. The 30-year-old Pietersen, who is also known as KP by his team-mates, has played 110 ODI’s so far and has scored 3517 runs. He has a very impressive average of 41.37 and has scored seven ODI hundreds.
Pietersen thinks that opening the batting in limited overs cricket is the best place to bat as he gets complete all 50 overs while the other players can bat around him. Pietersen believes that he does not have to slog on the flat tracks in the sub-continent. He believes he just has to stay at the crease and runs will come automatically. "I'll look to play my normal game. It's not a pinch-hitting role. It was put to me, and the team are right behind the decision. I'm fine. It could be nice, especially in the sub-continent. I have a nice little feeling about it," the English star added.
England is currently taking part in warm-up matches with the other teams before the tournament starts. This might be a good time to test Pietersen as an opening batsman. English fans hope that he does a good enough job to take them into the finals.
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