Pietersen primed for success
Will
25-Feb-2013
Martin Williamson
For all his showmanship, Kevin Pietersen has the ability and hunger to break a lot of records and become one of England’s truly great batsmen, argues Scyld Berry in The Sunday Telegraph.
In the next 10 years he could become the most prolific Test batsman England have had. Sir Len Hutton's 364 is within his range. So is Graham Gooch's career aggregate of 8,900 runs, given that Pietersen has scored 1,000 within his first year of Test cricket, after the hardest of all baptisms against Australia and in Asia. Pietersen can do it because, in addition to all his physical qualities, he has a cricket brain. At Lord's he worked Muralitharan to leg so much that seven fielders were posted legside, and then he helped himself on the off.
In the same paper, Mike Atherton recounts a long and ultimately futile search to find a Freddie Flintoff replica shirt for his four-year-old son’s birthday.
As befits a Sunday hack with plentiful time on his hands, I spent much of last week on a wild goose chase. More accurately, I spent it on a wild replica England cricket shirt chase. A Freddie Flintoff shirt, of course. For my four-year-old's birthday, you understand. It proved to be a frustrating and illuminating experience, which I shall now indulge your patience by recounting.
Muttiah Muralitharan puts a positive spin on England’s chances in the Ashes later this year, claiming their only problem is their lack of a quality spinner.