Two days in, Sledge of the Year....

[am Bays]

If KP though Flanders was his worst enemy, think again

Michael Henderson in The guardian has let fly in piece, here is an excerpt:

"Not many people, inside or outside the England dressing room, consider Pietersen to be a natural team player," pens Henderson, a long-time cricket writer who is well known to many Australian pressmen. "He is not English, and came to this country in order to be an international cricketer because the financial rewards are so much greater than they are in his native South Africa. In Australia, players have always moved state to make the grade, Allan Border and Adam Gilchrist among them, but not Pietersen, who, feeling rebuffed in Durban (the Natal authorities tell a different story), had his eye on England." Henderson writes that Pietersen has made himself a rich man but achieved only a portion of what he should, and savages him over his friendship with Shane Warne. "He would do much better to establish some firmer associations with his own fellows, not all of whom hold him in the same regard as he holds himself. He can make a start by growing some hair. At the moment, he looks like Magwitch (a character from Charles Dickens' Great Expectations). The difference between Warne, a genuine star, and Pietersen, who likes to imagine he is one, is a matter of temperament as much as talent."

[Punk Rooster]

Dunno- carrying on about KP having short hair was pathetic, does the length of his hair really have anything to do with the issue?

[Ian]

Punky would argue that his hair is long

[rod_rooster]

Dunno- carrying on about KP having short hair was pathetic, does the length of his hair really have anything to do with the issue?

Agree totally. If that is the best someone can come up with they should keep their mouths shut. If anything his hair was more embarrassing in 2005 when it looked like he had been shat on by a couple of seagulls.

Seriously leave the bloke alone. He is the best thing going for English cricket yet as always people love to sink the boot in when the side isn't winning. If England were up in the series he would probably be knighted on his return to England and the English press would surely claim there was no doubt he is English through and through. The guy is a star and will become a fine Test cricketer if he hasn't already achieved this. One good thing about all of it is that he doesn't seem like the sort of bloke to let it bother him and good for him.

[mal]

Dunno- carrying on about KP having short hair was pathetic, does the length of his hair really have anything to do with the issue?

Agree totally. If that is the best someone can come up with they should keep their mouths shut. If anything his hair was more embarrassing in 2005 when it looked like he had been shat on by a couple of seagulls.

Seriously leave the bloke alone. He is the best thing going for English cricket yet as always people love to sink the boot in when the side isn't winning. If England were up in the series he would probably be knighted on his return to England and the English press would surely claim there was no doubt he is English through and through. The guy is a star and will become a fine Test cricketer if he hasn't already achieved this. One good thing about all of it is that he doesn't seem like the sort of bloke to let it bother him and good for him.

AGREE 100%
refer 5th test in england + 2nd test in adelaide

[rod_rooster]

Dunno- carrying on about KP having short hair was pathetic, does the length of his hair really have anything to do with the issue?

Agree totally. If that is the best someone can come up with they should keep their mouths shut. If anything his hair was more embarrassing in 2005 when it looked like he had been shat on by a couple of seagulls.

Seriously leave the bloke alone. He is the best thing going for English cricket yet as always people love to sink the boot in when the side isn't winning. If England were up in the series he would probably be knighted on his return to England and the English press would surely claim there was no doubt he is English through and through. The guy is a star and will become a fine Test cricketer if he hasn't already achieved this. One good thing about all of it is that he doesn't seem like the sort of bloke to let it bother him and good for him.

AGREE 100%
refer 5th test in england + 2nd test in adelaide

Horray. Mal and i agree. Second time i think

[Rik E Boy]

THAT'S the sledge of the year?

This thread is a Glenelg or Geelong grand final effort Wrinkles!

regards,

REB

[Aerie]

Who's Michael Henderson? Who cares....

[Blue Boy]

Who's Michael Henderson? Who cares....

Yes correct !!!

[Max]

I agree. The guy is a champion. I would like to see him bat better with the lower order though. Perhaps the perception that he is giving the tail-enders the strike too easily is leading to this 'anti KP' banter. That aside, he has been brilliant in this (and the last) series. He still averages over 50 in test cricket after 20-odd tests. And, about half of them have been against an Australian side with Warne and McGrath!

Only the very best batsmen could match those stats...

[mal]

I agree. The guy is a champion. I would like to see him bat better with the lower order though. Perhaps the perception that he is giving the tail-enders the strike too easily is leading to this 'anti KP' banter. That aside, he has been brilliant in this (and the last) series. He still averages over 50 in test cricket after 20-odd tests. And, about half of them have been against an Australian side with Warne and McGrath!

Only the very best batsmen could match those stats...

MAX you have only posted 49 times on SAfooty and this would be one the BEST
posts you will ever post.

In a test that should be dominated in the press by Ooh Ahh, Warrrrney + Jayell, its
quite an honour that KP gets all the attention today.
And when he aims for the boundary ropes instead of the grandstands he will be
even better.
In 2006 he averages 53.
Shane Warne the WGLS has to bowl a foot down legside to stop him at times

In twenty years time they will still be talking about him, and nobody will remember
any other batsman in the side.

If England led 4-0 everybody would be raving about him being a matchwinner.

[Max]

Aww shucks...

[rod_rooster]

I agree. The guy is a champion. I would like to see him bat better with the lower order though. Perhaps the perception that he is giving the tail-enders the strike too easily is leading to this 'anti KP' banter. That aside, he has been brilliant in this (and the last) series. He still averages over 50 in test cricket after 20-odd tests. And, about half of them have been against an Australian side with Warne and McGrath!

Only the very best batsmen could match those stats...

I don't think it is that he bats badly with the tail just that no-one in the English tail is willing or able to give support. The best player i have seen batting with the tail was Steve Waugh. His method was to give the tail the strike and trust them. KP does this but the England tail isn't up to it. He could go down the path Flintoff went this morning and not take the singles but doing that results in the sort of shot that Flintoff got out to. Bit of a catch 22 i think. Basically it is pretty hard to bat with a tail when it is as bad as the English one.

[Max]

RR - Perhaps he just needs to adapt a bit better to the class of lower-order batsman the English team enjoys at the moment. I wouldn't want him to be too negative (like Flintoff probably was today) but surely there is a better middle ground?

I would like to see KP bat at 4 more often and at least have a few batsman to follow and stick around with him. That way nobody would care about his batting with the tail becuase he would be on 150+ before they arrive!

All said - he is a champion...

[Aerie]

I agree. The guy is a champion. I would like to see him bat better with the lower order though. Perhaps the perception that he is giving the tail-enders the strike too easily is leading to this 'anti KP' banter. That aside, he has been brilliant in this (and the last) series. He still averages over 50 in test cricket after 20-odd tests. And, about half of them have been against an Australian side with Warne and McGrath!

Only the very best batsmen could match those stats...

I don't think it is that he bats badly with the tail just that no-one in the English tail is willing or able to give support. The best player i have seen batting with the tail was Steve Waugh. His method was to give the tail the strike and trust them. KP does this but the England tail isn't up to it. He could go down the path Flintoff went this morning and not take the singles but doing that results in the sort of shot that Flintoff got out to. Bit of a catch 22 i think. Basically it is pretty hard to bat with a tail when it is as bad as the English one.

Exactly right. It's funny how one player can be commended and another player can be bagged for doing the same thing. Nothing can be done when number 6 and 7 have been getting out so quickly and number 8-11 are all genuine number 11's.

I guess this shows how important the number 6 and 7 positions are in Test match cricket. Even if Jones/Read had averaged 25-30 this series and hung around for a session a few times the series may well still have been alive.

Of course most of the credit must go to the 4 Australian bowlers and Ponting's/Buchanan's tactics to the lower order this series.

[sydney-dog]

I read that ROY may of given KP the sledge of the year

Early in Roy's knock at the MCG where he hit 156, KP was sledging Roy saying that he was picked in the Aussie team as a specialist fielder, not for his batting

Roy's response was something along the lines that "he refuses to listen to a tool who where's singlets to pubs and clubs"

but on another note

I have just returned from xmas break in Europe visiting my girlfriends gran parents, on our return we stopped in London for two nights, the POM's are certainly copping a flogging in the press and by the public, but more so one bloke in particular, that person is KP

He is accused by the English press and public to be selfish and not liked within the team, none of us are close enough to know how correct this is, but one area he has exposed in recent tests is how easily he is baited

[mal]

If hes that bad, that unpopular, that undisciplined.....
And still averages 51 in test cricket and 53 in 2006

SD whats your prognosis on KP

[heater31]

my oh my, they all loved him when they won it 18 months ago. Now they could lose 5 zip for the first time and disown him back to his native South Africa



I have my doubts about some players commitment KP included, fielding in Melbourne and not wearing a national cap of any sort no pride in their country or is it just that they are ashamed to be palying for England?

[RoosterMarty]

It is typical English tabloids though. When they are winning they are all over them.. describing them as world beaters etc but as soon as they start to struggle they tear shreds off them. It happens a lot to their football team too.

[sydney-dog]

Mal

KP, as a batsman, stating the obvious, he has all the shots, in the first two tests KP was the POM's shinning light, since then I have been o/s and have only seen some highlights and kept tabs on the net

in the last few days I have sensed that KP may get baited a bit too easily, so he may need to learn how not to get sucked in too easily

In London, they also seemed to question the way he bats with the tail, I have not seen enough cricket this series to judge

SD view, as a batsman he is the best in the england side, this means he should bat at 4 and should have from ball one of the series, we are not close enough to understand the reasons he has not but in the UK he is been heavily criticised for knocking back numerous requests to bat a 4

In regards to his attitude andthe team player critisms, my view, since last years series all the players have suffered from a rock star mentality, from a Far KP does seem to walk around like the David Beckam of cricket, if that works for him, that's ok, but soon as it affects team spirit and harmony, then it needs to be addressed

In regards to where he bats, this decision should be taken out of the Players hands

In regards to how the Aussies view him, KP is only liked by S Warne