Kevin Pietersen's Sense of History

Thursday, 12th November 2009

Kevin Pietersen is an idiot. One day that will become endearing and amusing and we'll look upon his daftness with fondness and so on. But that moment hasn't arrived yet. So, for the time being, we look at Pietersen and wonder what on earth is going on. No normal person would tell the Times that:

“I truly believe Jacques Kallis is the greatest cricketer ever."

This is as absurd as Chris Adams's claim that Mushtaq Ahmed was the finest cricketer who ever played for Sussex. I suppose we ask quite a lot of professional sportsmen, but is it too demanding to wonder if, from time to time, they might actually take the time to learn something about the game they play?

UPDATE: A friend emails to point out that Pietersen has previous on this sort of thing: "Aggers was speaking to KP in the West Indies, and asked him whether he took advice from retired players. He said that he didn't, because they would have no idea what it was like to play against really fast bowlers like Brett Lee. Aggers suggested that Andy Roberts and Michael Holding were pretty quick in their day!"

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jaco

November 12th, 2009 3:50pm Report this comment

Could we forgive him a wee bit for perhaps meaning this statement in the context of playing the sport as an all-rounder? Actually, scrap that. He's an eejit!

Beefeater

November 12th, 2009 3:53pm Report this comment

There is a test for cricket greatness. The only cricketer recognized for purposes of cryptic crossword clues is Boycott. He stands alone and for all time.

Matt Mckenna

November 12th, 2009 4:12pm Report this comment

We should all be grateful he didn't name himself.

Tiberius

November 12th, 2009 4:26pm Report this comment

Come on, Alex.

We surely know that Pietersen engages all other parts of his body before his brain. If he thought about the way he plays, he'd never be able to hit the shots he does. As for thinking before engaging his tongue - never! He lives on his nerves and instinct.

There again, Kallis has terrific statistics to his name (and more recently quite a lot of kilos as well). I have to admit I rather enjoyed his flunking the last series in England, when he underperformed more than any of the other South Africans, his being bamboozled by Freddie's "clever" use of the sight-screens being the pinnacle.

Snowman

November 12th, 2009 5:39pm Report this comment

Monbiot believes the polar bears are dropping dead, Pietersen believes Kallis is the greatest cricketer ever, you believe Pietersen is an idiot….. good to see we still have an unregulated market in beliefs.

Fergus Pickering

November 12th, 2009 6:19pm Report this comment

The greatest batsman ever is Victor Trumper. The greatest bowler ever is Sidney Barnes ('that bastard Barnes' according to A.C. MacLaren). The greatest captain ever is Douglas Jardine ('that bstard Jardine' according to every Australian who has ever lived). I have to admit that Gary Sobers could play a bit.

Martyn Rowe

November 12th, 2009 6:56pm Report this comment

Perhaps he's representative of the kind of hero the English fans want and deserve... Yep, those English fans who booed Ricky Ponting everywhere he went. Ponting being the greatest batsman, along with Tendulkar, of his generation.

I used to support England but after the 2005 Ashes and the ridiculous celebrations, the MBE's and then three years of being absolutely shite and living off one series I just lost respect for the whole charade.

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