Method follows KP's madness
We have been here somewhere before
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
We have been here somewhere before. About five months ago, in fact, when a gritty last-wicket partnership between two tailenders ensured that England began their Ashes campaign with a nail-biting draw and not a demoralising defeat, writes Mike Atherton in the Times.
There were many heroes in this match, a slow-burning affair that ignited dramatically in the final session of the fifth day. There was Graeme Swann, man of the match for his five wickets and a half-century of glorious exuberance; there was Friedel de Wet, the fresh-faced newcomer, who, late in the day, was given the second new ball by his captain and who nearly bowled his team to victory, taking three wickets after tea, and there was Jonathan Trott, whose five hours of self- restraint on the final day took his team to the point of safety. But without Collingwood’s calmness, toughness and experience throughout the final 34 overs of a pulsating final session, England would have lost.
In the Daily Mail, Nasser Hussain compares the batting styles of Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott.
To me there are two types of batsmen - personality players and situation players. Pietersen is so good that he always plays the same way, the personality way, the ego way. But Trott is impressive in a very different way because he clearly plays the situation, as he has done so well in his highly productive first two Tests for England.
It is one of Test cricket's unique features that the highest drama the game has to offer can come from what is effectively a stalemate. In the fullness of time the record books will show that the first Test ended in a draw but few matches have ended in such nail-biting circumstances as were witnessed here yesterday, writes Mike Selvey in the Guardian.
If you ever want to be reminded of the fine line Kevin Pietersen runs between the spirit and the talent of the very greatest cricketers on one hand, and Coco the Clown on the other, you simply must return to the first Test which ended so perilously for England here last evening, writes James Lawton in the Independent.
It is mandatory because probably nothing will ever quite so perfectly illuminate the split personality of a man who turned a day that was supposed to be about desperate survival into an exhibition of how a sportsman of genius can utterly dominate all around him. Then, literally, ran out of the most basic common sense.
What on earth was he thinking? The same question that surrounded Ian Bell after his first-innings aberration can now be directed at Kevin Pietersen, only with an extra note of hysteria in the voice, writes Simon Briggs in the Telegraph.
While there are similarities between Cardiff and Centurion, Vic Marks identifies a few differences in the Guardian.
England will hope for a Cardiff effect, gaining momentum for the series by denying opponents victory in the first Test and against the odds, but the route to that hair-raising draw was radically different. Against Australia in Wales England were struggling at tea on the final day: 169 for seven. Expectations were still low. Here they were 169 for three and a draw seemed relatively secure.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo