England win by an innings and 9 runs. New Zealand were rendered helpless and found wanting on the fourth day of the Third Test. We had earlier reported how KP saved England on the first day! Maybe that proved to be the catalyst for a really inspired performance by the Poms.
Making 364 in the First Innings in Trent Bridge seldom means trouble. So England were always in a relaxed state of mind, with just a few hiccups, as they mercilessly bowled out New Zealand twice over two and a half days. James Anderson took 7 for 43 in the …read more

Kevin Pietersen has been oft criticized for being too irrational and inconsistent! But not today. He was rational and scored 115. While a few of my friends are mulling over the IPL, i thought it was time to move on in life. Everything you love might go away, but this one will come back.
Back to the test match, the Black Caps won the toss and decided to field on a typical Trent Bridge wicket. The English batsman struggled early on, with Cook, Vaughan and Collingwood getting out to bowling beauties, O’Brien being the wrecker-in-chief! The score was 86/5. KP loves …read more

Mike Atherton has a piece today about how Sreesanth should be issued a ban for bowling a beamer at KP in the 2nd Test. His feeling is that the beamer was intentional.
Watch the video, and decide for yourself:

What do you think? I still believe, as I concluded at the time, that it genuinely slipped out. Unless Sree is a phenomenal actor, his apology seems real. KP is stunned, rightly, but it’s also clear that Vaughan wasn’t so sure it was an accident.
Compare the reactions of the commentators, though: Nasser Hussein (above), versus Mark Nicholas and Geoffrey Boycott (below), both …read more

I didn’t know if it needed saying again – Kevin Pietersen is not yet the finished article. Sure, he might be rated the best batsmen in the world, sure, he might be feared, and sure, he did have a pretty good test series against the West Indies, but he is still not yet the type of player of which he is capable of becoming. Graham Gooch gave KP a verbal blowjob in naming him at the top of England’s series rankings, saying:
He is learning to add composure and innings management to his undoubted stroke-making skills and his double century was …read more

England will need to score 292 runs in a day if they are to save this Ashes series. Oh, and they have to do it with 5 batsmen. On Day 4, the England batsmen assembled something of a fightback, with runs from Ian Bell and Alastair Cook who looked to bat out the whole day and really frustrate the Australian bowlers, yet a flurry of wickets late in the day handed the initiative back to the Aussies.
The question that will now decide the series is simple: exactly how out of form are Flintoff and Geraint Jones? KP is at …read more

Colly, Colly… Colly. I apologise for saying you’re not a number 4 batsman. I was clearly delirious. I’ve always thought you had it in you. Honestly.
England finally came to the Ashes by posting a promising 550-6 dec and reduced Australia to 28-1 at the close of Day 2. After Day 1, the feeling was that they’d like get themselves bowled out for 300 and Australia would have posted 400 by the end of the day. Not so, as Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood put on a record partnership, and Collingwood scored the first English double century in Australia in a …read more

There’s not much to be said for the state of the game, and despite Paul Collingwood and KP salvaging a bit of pride for the English, it came too late – in fact, in true England style – when the game is lost, we’ll start to play. Man, I’m getting cynical.

I’m cursed by having to work in the day time, which means I can’t stay at home watching cricket all day. If I could find a job that let me do that, then cor blimey, I’d be all over it. Anyway, the result is that to catch up with what happened in the 1st day of the 3rd Test between England and Pakistan, I had to watch the highlights. It’s OK, Sky do a pretty comprehensive 2 hour programme. So I’m watching the highlights. England would have been pretty happy with their 350 odd for 6 at the end …read more

Sri Lanka have beaten England in a Twenty20 match at The Rose Bowl in Hampshire. Sri Lanka posted 163 all out, a score that looked gettable. England managed 161-5 falling short by just a couple of runs. In amongst it, the experienced cricketers in both sides ultimately showed that experience is important in cricket.

Kevin Pietersen – England’s new wonderboy – has really made a name for himself. Doubted by the cynics and critics (which included me) about his ability to play the highest level of the game, due largely to the fact that his shot selection seemed irresponsible, he has successfully proved a lot of people wrong. His 158 in the final Ashes test match at The Oval was a match-drawing series-winning display of skill.