POMS ONLY STAR WEAK

[mal]

ADVERTISER 31/01/07 by BEN DORRIES.

Maverick England batting star Kevin Pietersen has been branded gutless for fleeing Australia with a broken rib-deserting his hapless team-mates.
Former Australian skipper Allan Border pulled no punches when he questioned the courage of the charasmatic Englishman who left for the old dart before his side had tasted victory in a summer of torment Down Under.
Pieterson was spotted sinking beers at a Melbourne nightclub only hours after the batting kingpin was struck in the ribs......
" Ive got to say he was on the plane before the Xray came back." Border said.......

Former England test batsman Graham Thorpe also believes Pietersen let his country down in its hour of need claiming " He was out of Australia pretty quick." ....
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Interesting reading.
Apart from the fractured rib, Pieterson has damaged shoulders, a crushed vertebrae, weakened
knees, and swollen ankles after carrying his country throughout the tour.
What KP has to learn is that when you are a SUPERSTAR the press, media and jealous ex players will have a crack at you for the slightest or largest indiscretions.

Before we brand him gutless lets also give him credit for batting on for another 20 minutes in
excrutiating pain after Glen Mcgrath struck him in the ribcage.
Lets also remember that innings of 92, still the highest score for the series by a pom !

[blink]

It was stated that KP will return should England make the CB Series finals.

Looks like we won't be seeing him again!

[Rik E Boy]

Question: Why would Allan Border be jealous of KP? If it was Greg Ritchie maybe but Allan Border was one of the most courageous players ever to don the baggy green cap. Guess what mally, the guy might actually have a point.

regards,

REB

[mal]

Question: Why would Allan Border be jealous of KP? If it was Greg Ritchie maybe but Allan Border was one of the most courageous players ever to don the baggy green cap. Guess what mally, the guy might actually have a point.

regards,

REB

Allan BORDER is my all time favourite batsman.
I have never heard him sledge in the media.
For him to say that is a concern.

Personally I cant defend the KP off the field issues.
I can only marvel the great mans batting he is a champion.

[Rik E Boy]

Kevin Pieterson is a talented batsman but in my opinion he is a long way short of a champion. His continual walking at McGrath is just plain stupid Cricket. He has sacrificed his wicket on one occasion and his ribs on another. This is not good batting. A champion would give McGrath the respect he deserves and combat him with proper cricket strokes, not this invented crap which has netted him the occasional boundary only. Another example of underrating the opposition is when Pieterson stated that Shane Warne would never bowl him around his legs but at Adelaide this is exactly what happened CLUNK there go the book sales.

Lets have a look at what champions do..

1. Respect their opponents and more often than not come out on top against them
2. Do well when the game is on the line
3. Do well in foriegn conditions
4. Have strength of character when things go against you so you can utlimately triumph when your confidence returns to back your talent.

In my opinion Pieterson does none of these things....

1. Trying an ego battle against McGrath is not respect..I'm not talking about throw away lines that Vincent or McGrath himself have often uttered either.

2. When the game was on the line Pieterson simply did not deliver. A good score in the second dig in the first test and a good score in Adelaide in the first dig were made when the wickets were at their most batter friendly for the entire series.

3. Pieterson was quite good in the 2005 Ashes series (but still behind Strauss and Trescothick) but went missing in Australia. He actually got shown up for the inexperienced Test Cricketer that he actually is.

4. Strength of character? Well, he left his native country in order to play cricket for England..how much of team man can he be? Would you trust the guy in the Aussie dressing room? He plays for himself. When things went against Pieterson he continued to fail...yeah good 90 odd in the One Dayers but you know as well as I do that it is Test Cricket that is the real deal.

Pieterson does have talent and is a cricketer to be reckoned with but to call him a champion is the text book example of the overuse of the term. Come back in four years son.

regards,

REB

[JK]

A champion may lose a battle but invariably triumphs in the war

[Armytank]

well said REB, constantly walking at McGrath showed nothing but disrepect for the greatest fast bowler going around. Serve himself right for the broken ribs, too bad it wasn't his ego that was broken, it might have made him a better cricketer but even still not a champion.

[Aerie]

Rubbish. Walking at the bowler is a technique Pietersen uses. Hayden has done the same thing (to a little lesser extent) for many years. He's been out once and got hit in the ribs once this summer. He's scored plenty from it in the meantime. It's how he bats. The beauty of watching batsman is they are all different and at the end of the day KP's record is up there with the best currently going around so who can argue.

I'm not sure what the definition of a champion is and I wouldn't call KP a champion yet, but from the 4 points REB has listed, Pietersen has got all of those covered IMO.

[Rik E Boy]

I'm not sure what the definition of a champion is and I wouldn't call KP a champion yet, but from the 4 points REB has listed, Pietersen has got all of those covered IMO.

Care to elaborate on how you think KP has those four covered? Walking at the bowler has not made Hayden a better batsman, in fact I believe he does this when his off side scoring dries up. KP hasn't scored that many walking at McGrath this season either. What have you been watching this summer Aerie? The Grand DVD again?

regards,

REB

[Aerie]

I'm not sure what the definition of a champion is and I wouldn't call KP a champion yet, but from the 4 points REB has listed, Pietersen has got all of those covered IMO.

Care to elaborate on how you think KP has those four covered? Walking at the bowler has not made Hayden a better batsman, in fact I believe he does this when his off side scoring dries up. KP hasn't scored that many walking at McGrath this season either. What have you been watching this summer Aerie? The Grand DVD again?

regards,

REB

1. Respect their opponents and more often than not come out on top against them
Pietersen has said many time the Australians are the best etc. etc. There is a mutual respect between him and Shane Warne. He averages over 50 against the Australians. As an individual, he couldn't have done much more.

2. Do well when the game is on the line
Remember The Oval - 2005?

3. Do well in foriegn conditions
He was the best English batsman this summer and was in the top few for the series.

4. Have strength of character when things go against you so you can utlimately triumph when your confidence returns to back your talent.
Has led the way for a dismal English team for the whole summer. He kept up his average in trying circumstances. His last knock of any kind in Australia was 80 odd.

I get the feeling most conservative Australian cricket watchers don't like KP for much the same reasons many English followers didn't like Shane Warne until he finally won them over through sheer weight of performance over many years. Pietersen is likely to be the same. And who can blame him for leaving South Africa with their black policy and match fixing - he's not the only one to leave.

[Max]

Good one Aarie...

Who says you can't charge a bowler and still respect him? I think the plan to unsettle McGrath and make the bowler change his plan was a great idea (regardless of whether it came off or not. And, I would suggest that it did).

As an aside, how far has 'respect' got Atherton, Lara, etc etc in the past against McGrath? At least KP is having a crack and trying something different against a quality bowler. This is more than the rest of the Poms could argue.

[scoob]

You can even look at it as - when he charges him he is showing respect as if he plays in a normal fashion he knows his time is limited??? just a thought...if you have to come up with unorthodox plans to beat a bowler - maybe should been seen as respect.

[Adelaide Hawk]

Although I think Pietersen over-doses on arrogance tablets, I don't regard his actions of walking down the pitch to bowlers as not showing respect. If he was creaming the balls to the boundary regularly, I'd say "good on him, keep walking down the wicket and smash them".

However, a lot of the time when he adopted this tactic, he achieved little more than to upset his own timing, and I recall one period of play when he didn't score a run for about 20 minutes or so, and yet he continued to wander all over the pitch and hit balls straight to fieldsmen.

I'd prefer to see him use the tactic sparingly, and take bowlers by surprise. It became so predictable that it was inevitable a bowler would cream him at some stage.

As for being weak, I am sure the initial injury would have been uncomfortable, but I would have prefered to see him at least try to rehabilitate himself, until he had no hope of playing again this summer.

[mal]

Batsmen staying in thier creases playing Mcgrath like scared rabbits is a constant.
Give KP credit he is daring and SUCCESSFUL.
KP has adopted a devil may care attacking arrogant and entertaining methodology
which has seen him ave 50+ against Australia over 2 series.
Some very very good batsman struggle to ave 40 against Australia.
His unpredictability is what makes him a devastating batsman.

Shane WARNE is the greatest leggie ever.
Ive only seen a handful of batsman dominate him like no others can
CRONJE/LARA/TENDULKAR and KP are a few that have succeeded.
All of those players hit Warne for a lot of 4s and 6s and ATTACKED him.

He has taken on arguably historys best performed Australian attacks with great success.

[Stumps]

Cant stand KP but he is a deadset gun!! Im sure if he can make runs in australia he will dominate most world bowling attacks.
Navjot sidhu played warne better than anyone iv seen...
Warne has got Lara a few times..... he used to love facing mcgill though

[Max]

Spot on Mal...

[Rik E Boy]

Good one Aarie...

Who says you can't charge a bowler and still respect him? I think the plan to unsettle McGrath and make the bowler change his plan was a great idea (regardless of whether it came off or not. And, I would suggest that it did).

As an aside, how far has 'respect' got Atherton, Lara, etc etc in the past against McGrath? At least KP is having a crack and trying something different against a quality bowler. This is more than the rest of the Poms could argue.

Good point Max,

regards,

REB

[Rik E Boy]

1. Respect their opponents and more often than not come out on top against them
Pietersen has said many time the Australians are the best etc. etc. There is a mutual respect between him and Shane Warne. He averages over 50 against the Australians. As an individual, he couldn't have done much more.

2. Do well when the game is on the line
Remember The Oval - 2005?

3. Do well in foriegn conditions
He was the best English batsman this summer and was in the top few for the series.

4. Have strength of character when things go against you so you can utlimately triumph when your confidence returns to back your talent.
Has led the way for a dismal English team for the whole summer. He kept up his average in trying circumstances. His last knock of any kind in Australia was 80 odd.

I get the feeling most conservative Australian cricket watchers don't like KP for much the same reasons many English followers didn't like Shane Warne until he finally won them over through sheer weight of performance over many years. Pietersen is likely to be the same. And who can blame him for leaving South Africa with their black policy and match fixing - he's not the only one to leave.

Excellent response Aerie. I actually love watching KP play but I think the assessment of him as being a champion is a bit premature..and I seem to be in the minority on this one. Keeping up his average while club level bunnies get out doesn't impress me a lot..and are they still fixing matches in South Africa these days..hmm. You made a point about Shane Warne..well he has earnt the tag champion by a sheer weight of performance over many years...I think KP has to do the same. If he does I'll have to admit I was w.. w.. wrrr...wrong!

regards,

REB

[rod_rooster]

1. Respect their opponents and more often than not come out on top against them
Pietersen has said many time the Australians are the best etc. etc. There is a mutual respect between him and Shane Warne. He averages over 50 against the Australians. As an individual, he couldn't have done much more.

2. Do well when the game is on the line
Remember The Oval - 2005?

3. Do well in foriegn conditions
He was the best English batsman this summer and was in the top few for the series.

4. Have strength of character when things go against you so you can utlimately triumph when your confidence returns to back your talent.
Has led the way for a dismal English team for the whole summer. He kept up his average in trying circumstances. His last knock of any kind in Australia was 80 odd.

I get the feeling most conservative Australian cricket watchers don't like KP for much the same reasons many English followers didn't like Shane Warne until he finally won them over through sheer weight of performance over many years. Pietersen is likely to be the same. And who can blame him for leaving South Africa with their black policy and match fixing - he's not the only one to leave.

Excellent response Aerie. I actually love watching KP play but I think the assessment of him as being a champion is a bit premature..and I seem to be in the minority on this one. Keeping up his average while club level bunnies get out doesn't impress me a lot..and are they still fixing matches in South Africa these days..hmm. You made a point about Shane Warne..well he has earnt the tag champion by a sheer weight of performance over many years...I think KP has to do the same. If he does I'll have to admit I was w.. w.. wrrr...wrong!

regards,

REB

I think everyone has valid points in this thread. No doubt KP is very talented and has the potential to become a very very good player. So far his start to international cricket has been impressive. He is confident and takes up whatever challenge is presented to him. I think REB is spot on here though. He needs to continue to perform over an much longer period of time before we can class him as a champion. Many players have had 1, 2 or even 3 years of very good cricket and been up there with the best in the world but this does not make them a champion. Guys like Warne, Lara, S. Waugh, Tendulkar, Ponting etc. are all chapions because of sustained performance at an exceptional level over many many years. KP has the potential to be a chapion but he isn't there just yet. As REB said the term champion is overused.

[mal]

He quit with a broken rib
Harmison quit with a broken heart
If anyone is weak its Harmison a man in his 20s and gives up
just before a o/d series and lets his team-mates down

As for the champ KP he make exceed his 50 average as he will play
against inferior teams for a while now.
If he played about 35% of his test innings against Bangladesh instead
of Australia he would probably have an average closer to Bradman.

When having a go at KP the Tall Poppy Syndrome rears its ugly head.
Warrrrrrrrrrrrrny, Mal and KP have all been subjected to TPS