http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Surrey-c851 vs Lancashire – County Championship Division One - Day Three Recap
The third day’s play between Surrey and Lancashire was dominated by a splendid unbeaten double century from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KP-Pietersen-c1806, which guided his team to 430 for 5 at stumps, trailing the hosts by just 55 runs during the County Championship Division One match
played at Woodbridge Road, Guildford, on July 13, 2012.
The English batsman responded with an unbeaten 234* on a day when he appeared to be ready for his return into the England One-Day fold.
Lancashire declared the innings early on day 3 after posting a mammoth 485 on the board with the help of composed centuries from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Steven-Croft-c2583 (154*).
Surrey had early jitters when young opener Rory http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zander-de-Bruyn-c98565 played some exquisite drives during their 49-run second-wicket stand but soon Ansari (21)
was caught at second slip off http://www.senore.com/Cricket/A-Shahzad-c874.
In came Pietersen, who walked into the park on the back of raging discussions on the secret meetings with the ECB to discuss his return to the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013’s limited-over squad.
The 32-year-old English star was however, in a different mood with a clear intent to make a strong statement for the selectors, taking the opposition bowling head on.
He was involved in a third-wicket partnership with Zander de Bruyn, raising 181 runs in the process. Pietersen played the part of an aggressor, oozing class while dominating with his wide array of shots and raising his half-century from just 42 deliveries.
Both batsmen scored at a brisk rate and the away-side soon moved past 200 with a boundary from the English Test player. The former captain quickly went past the nervous nineties and soon raised his bat for a sublime hundred off just 93 balls - the fastest
ton of the season with 70 of his runs coming in boundaries.
However, De Bruyn on the other end wasn’t very lucky as the nervous-nineties caught-up with him - adjudged lbw on 94 after failing to execute a sweep shot off spinner http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Simon-Kerrigan-c2532.
The departure did little in upsetting Pietersen’s tempo, who continued his assault with a flurry of boundaries, reaching the 150-run milestone off just 130 balls.
The 32-year-old was involved in two more partnerships; a 72-run fourth-wicket stand with Steven Davies (22) and a 89-run endeavour with Jason http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Lancashire-c806’s daunting first innings total.
He then duly reached his double century from his 170th delivery, and kept attacking to remain unbeaten at the close of play with 25 fours and 7 sixes to his name.
The pitch at Guildford is a cracker to bat on and with Pietersen still on the crease, there is a possibility that more records might tumble on the final day, with the match likely to be heading towards a draw.
After the day’s play the middle-order batsman talked frankly about his plans and intentions over his possible u-turn on his limited-over career.
"I've said before that, if the schedule was right, if they could sort my schedule out, I would love to play for another three or four years in all forms of cricket. But the schedule at the moment is a nightmare."
When asked if his return to the England side in all formats of the game is on the cards, the batsman replied with “I think so”.
Pietersen’s representative met English and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) officials to discuss the possible return of the cricketer - It’s also believed that the former English ODI player has also met with the managing director of England cricket.
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