GIMH
Norwood's on Fire
This was a bit of a discussion in the tour thread, but I reckon others might have some useful input.
You'll get no prizes for guessing who I'd rather have in my team, but what got me is that one if the big arguments used for Smith is that he scores important runs in the 3rd and 4th innings? Do these make him a better batsman than Pietersen? And has Pietersen never done this?
I've got a lot of reasons why I prefer KP but I thought I'd highlight a few innings that show that the pressure/importance thing doesn't only work for Smith.
57 & 67* V Australia, July 05, Lord's - pretty much the only batsman to stand up and be counted. What a way to make your debut, the pressure of a home Ashes Test at Lord's, with your team-mates collapsed. Pietersen wasn't peturbed. Does an innings need to be a hundred to be appreciated? Not in my house.
158 V Australia, Sept 05, The Oval - you might have heard of this one. Of course, it could have been different if he hadn't been dropped, but he seized the opportunity and took the game away from Australia when, once again, all around him were dropping like flies. A magnificent innings - and this was in the 3rd innings as well.
142 V Sri Lanka, May 06, Edgbaston - England won this game by six wickets, in theory a comfortable win. Alas, look at how many runs the rest of the team scored as Murali tore us apart. Pietersen brought out the switch-hit for possibly the first (maybe the second) time here and hammered Murali. Had he scored less, I have no doubt England would have lost the game, and then the series.
134 V India, July 07, Lord's, - England should have won this game, being cruelly robbed by rain (IMO!!!). We would have lost but for a magic 3rd innings ton by Pietersen - the next highest score was 42. Yet another time when nearly everyone around him was getting out but he just kept on going.
101 V India, August 07, The Oval - a fourth innings ton that went a long way to saving the game for England.
129 V New Zealand, March 08, Napier - Came to the crease with the score on 4-2, in a series decider. Lost another partner after facing just one ball, and before long another had gone as well, at 36-4 England were staring a series defeat in the face. Pietersen was the only top six batsman to score any meaningful runs, with Stuart Broad the next highest contributor with 42. Ryan Sidebottom would cash in on great bowling conditions and the pitch flattened out to allow Strauss to make a career-saving 177 in the 3rd innings, but it was Pietersen who allowed England to go on and win the game.
115 V New Zealand, June 08, Nottingham Early in his innings, Pietersen saw three partners fall for two runs; England were 86-5. He played a hugely important century, and along with a lower middle order of Ambrose, Broad and Anderson saw England to a respectable 364 - England wound up winning by an innings thanks to some magic bowling from Anderson - how different would it have been without Pietersen's contribution?
152 V South Africa, July 08, Lord's - Things were going along swimmingly, with England in control. Pietersen came in after two quick wickets, but at 117-2 there was no need to panic. When Cook went it was all of a sudden 117-3, and South Africa's tails were up. It was also Pietersen's first Test match against the nation where he was born. To say he was under pressure would be an understatement, just as it would be to call his a good innings. That England's bowlers could not finish the job should take nothing away from this.
100 V South Africa, August 08, The Oval - Century in his first innings as skipper, enough said.
144 V India, December 08, Mohali - Yet another top order failure, Pietersen came in with the score at 2-2 after the opposition had put 400 on the board. Whilst England's total was still poor, the follow-on was avoided and the match never looked likely to be lost from there.
102 V West Indies, March 08, Trinidad - Often overlooked because of the flat pitch, but England needed a miracle to set up a winning position in the final Test. Strauss and Cook failed to get going, and Shah scored just 1. Pietersen scored 102 from 92 balls, exactly the kind of innings that the situation required.
You may disagree with may take on these, and of course there are times he has failed. I jsut wanted to highlight it because there seemed to be a school of thought that Pietersen's runs have been a lot easier to come by than Smith's.
What are your thoughts?
You'll get no prizes for guessing who I'd rather have in my team, but what got me is that one if the big arguments used for Smith is that he scores important runs in the 3rd and 4th innings? Do these make him a better batsman than Pietersen? And has Pietersen never done this?
I've got a lot of reasons why I prefer KP but I thought I'd highlight a few innings that show that the pressure/importance thing doesn't only work for Smith.
57 & 67* V Australia, July 05, Lord's - pretty much the only batsman to stand up and be counted. What a way to make your debut, the pressure of a home Ashes Test at Lord's, with your team-mates collapsed. Pietersen wasn't peturbed. Does an innings need to be a hundred to be appreciated? Not in my house.
158 V Australia, Sept 05, The Oval - you might have heard of this one. Of course, it could have been different if he hadn't been dropped, but he seized the opportunity and took the game away from Australia when, once again, all around him were dropping like flies. A magnificent innings - and this was in the 3rd innings as well.
142 V Sri Lanka, May 06, Edgbaston - England won this game by six wickets, in theory a comfortable win. Alas, look at how many runs the rest of the team scored as Murali tore us apart. Pietersen brought out the switch-hit for possibly the first (maybe the second) time here and hammered Murali. Had he scored less, I have no doubt England would have lost the game, and then the series.
134 V India, July 07, Lord's, - England should have won this game, being cruelly robbed by rain (IMO!!!). We would have lost but for a magic 3rd innings ton by Pietersen - the next highest score was 42. Yet another time when nearly everyone around him was getting out but he just kept on going.
101 V India, August 07, The Oval - a fourth innings ton that went a long way to saving the game for England.
129 V New Zealand, March 08, Napier - Came to the crease with the score on 4-2, in a series decider. Lost another partner after facing just one ball, and before long another had gone as well, at 36-4 England were staring a series defeat in the face. Pietersen was the only top six batsman to score any meaningful runs, with Stuart Broad the next highest contributor with 42. Ryan Sidebottom would cash in on great bowling conditions and the pitch flattened out to allow Strauss to make a career-saving 177 in the 3rd innings, but it was Pietersen who allowed England to go on and win the game.
115 V New Zealand, June 08, Nottingham Early in his innings, Pietersen saw three partners fall for two runs; England were 86-5. He played a hugely important century, and along with a lower middle order of Ambrose, Broad and Anderson saw England to a respectable 364 - England wound up winning by an innings thanks to some magic bowling from Anderson - how different would it have been without Pietersen's contribution?
152 V South Africa, July 08, Lord's - Things were going along swimmingly, with England in control. Pietersen came in after two quick wickets, but at 117-2 there was no need to panic. When Cook went it was all of a sudden 117-3, and South Africa's tails were up. It was also Pietersen's first Test match against the nation where he was born. To say he was under pressure would be an understatement, just as it would be to call his a good innings. That England's bowlers could not finish the job should take nothing away from this.
100 V South Africa, August 08, The Oval - Century in his first innings as skipper, enough said.
144 V India, December 08, Mohali - Yet another top order failure, Pietersen came in with the score at 2-2 after the opposition had put 400 on the board. Whilst England's total was still poor, the follow-on was avoided and the match never looked likely to be lost from there.
102 V West Indies, March 08, Trinidad - Often overlooked because of the flat pitch, but England needed a miracle to set up a winning position in the final Test. Strauss and Cook failed to get going, and Shah scored just 1. Pietersen scored 102 from 92 balls, exactly the kind of innings that the situation required.
You may disagree with may take on these, and of course there are times he has failed. I jsut wanted to highlight it because there seemed to be a school of thought that Pietersen's runs have been a lot easier to come by than Smith's.
What are your thoughts?
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