Are you England in disguise?

In only one respect was England's victory over Pakistan fortunate and that was that England came up against the one team who had looked even rustier than themselves in the warm-up games, writes Mike Atherton in the Times.

Pakistan’s fielding was horrific and reflected a team short on cricket and confidence. Pakistan’s supporters drifted away long before the end, followed by the inevitable “Are you England in disguise?” As the Netherlands showed, anyone can win a Twenty20 match, and to the relief of the ECB and its marketing department, last night belonged emphatically to England.

Kevin Pietersen is the diva of cricket, Paul Weaver writes in the Guardian. It is not enough that he is respected; he demands to be loved too. He probably had it inserted in his recently drafted central contract. And how the crowd adored him here last night.

Pietersen has been bleeding lately and his blood has marked all our clothes. He has been bleeding since the start of the year, when the captaincy was torn from him. King Lear, who was mad, demanded love from his daughters; Pietersen, it seems, insists it is forthcoming from every­one and his performances feed from that affection.