My dislike of KP goes too far! I have tried to prove that Pietersen was not the scapegoat or the wonder bat that people like to believe. But with my research I seem to have shot myself in the foot. Although excuses could be made in each case Cook stress of being new to captaincy, Bells 8 no’s Trotts illness these figures include him in 5 overseas tours.Too make things even I have taken these averages over 45 continuous innings for each player.Pietersen averages 40 with 4, 100’s and 10, 50’s Cook 38.6. 6,100’s. 6, 50’sBell 34.9. 4,100’s. 10, 50’s 8noTrott 36.9. 3, 100’s 10, 50’sAs you can tell none of these players would make it into any other international team with these averages. I think Cook has struggled since Strauss left because he has not had a decent opening partner with him to build a reasonable 1st wicket stand all successful openers have had long standing partners. Luckily he is still young so has a few years to sort out his problems. By the looks of Bells figures maybe he could move up a place giving him more time to score runs. Ponting the greatest ever no 3 batsman has stated the “teams best batsman should be at 1st drop” perhaps Pietersen should have played at no 3 we will never know. It will take a long time to rebuild this team as we have an abundance of young talent but where they fit into an international team is still uncertain Bairstow is a good young player he should replace Prior when the time comes and Stokes will become a good all-rounder not great but steady. Root once they have found a position for him should become a better prospect just stay away from Bopara and everything will work fine. The news at the moment is the door is still open to Pietersen we do need him as there is nobody else with his playing experience. Maybe they should have a box of dummies ready at the drinks break so when he spits his there will always be a replacement.
Tony Maxey ● 4464d