The Ashes 2009

654321 Wrote:Lets not get angry at KP, this is part of his game, he's a genius, but shots like that most of the time they come off, sumtimes, like this time they go tits up. He dug us out of a hole 2day, jus like he does all the time. Far and away our best batsman.

I am probably nit picking but I think the word genius has been branded a bit losely. Lara and Bradman were considered geniuses because they had the abilty to change their mind up to three times in the middle of one shot. their brains could compute and make adjustments at a rate far greater rate than any other Batsmen could.

When have you seen KP change his mind during a shot? His dismissal was proof of his limitations. he decided he was going to play a sweep shot for the potential gain of one run. the bowler spotted this and changed his line accordingly, pietersen did not have the cricketing I.Q to chage plan, and either leave it, or play another shot.

What i feel Kevin pietersen has; is an abundance of hand eye co_ordination, (more than any man has a right to have) and thus can play shots no batsmen should have the right to be able to play. this makes him the extreamly accomplished batsmen he is, but I dont feel that his mistakes are due to the flaws of being a genius Just someone who does not have the innate cricketing intelligence to make the right decision at the right moment..

Alastair Cook was out to a very poor shot yesterday but the spotlight will always be on KP. I say let him get on with it, he's gonna make a lot of runs on a regular basis but will consequently get out to some unorthodox shots.

KP will always 'live by the sword,die by the sword',and no amount of coaching will ever take that out of him,so i guess you have to take the rough with the smooth.

End of innings. England all out for 435, adding 99 runs to their overnight score.

a very good rearguard action (not something you associate with english teams in ashes series) if we get two wickets between now and the end of the morning session then i feel we will well and trully be in the driving seat. i am very encouraged by the amount of turn hauritz was getting who turns the ball about as much as ashley giles did. Panesar and Swann could be the key


i think this period and the after noon session could decided the fate of this match (weather permitting.) that is what I feel makes test match cricket so compelling if only the heathens could appreciate this.

fair point about the pieterson thing, but by he's a genius in the sense he can play shots no other player can play. He can play on difficult tracks and plays the best best bowlers in the world well. I wudnt go as far as to say he's got an abudance of hand eye co-ordination that no man has a right to have. I can think of a few who have much better hand-eye than him. Tendulkar, Chanderpaul, Mohammed Yousef, Younis Khan but more so than any1 Sehwag.

What i'm tryna say is that he aint perfect, he'll make mistakes sumtimes, every player gets out to stupid shots sumtimes, including Lara & Co. Willis is overly harsh on every1.

Looks like a belter of a batting track.
I have a feeling because of the summer we've had so far, this series is going to be won 1-0, barring a batting collapses.

We need a wicket. A bit of Monty might do the trick.

Tea, day two. Australia 142/1

Australia have won the last session hands down. If I was going to put a bet on i would a draw. for anyone to win from this situation there would have to be a huge collapse from one team and that would unfornutaely be most likely England( first test in west indies)

I think that 654321 is correct it could well end up 1-0 but i would say england are the more likely to collapse in any one test and, compete very hard for the rest of the series but by a mixture of outragious luck and fortitude at the hands of the opposition; lose out on the series 1-0 (a la West Indies)

Australia after all are the masters at hanging in there and riding their luck.

Close of play, day 2. Australia (first innings) 249/1 trail by 196 runs.