Thursday 31 May 2012

Kevin Pietersen


Kevin Peter Pietersen, MBE, born 27 June 1980 is a South African-born English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who plays for England, Surrey and the Delhi Daredevils. He was captain of the England Test and One Day International teams from 4 August 2008 to 7 January 2009 but resigned after just three Tests and nine One Day Internationals, following a dispute with England coach Peter Moores, who was sacked the same day. On 31 May 2012, Pietersen retired from all forms of international limited-overs cricket.
Pietersen was born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal Province, South Africa. He made his first-class debut for Natal in 1997 before moving to England after voicing his displeasure at the racial quota system in place in South Africa. His English mother gave Pietersen eligibility to play for England, and after serving a qualifying period of four years playing at county level, he was called up almost immediately into the national side. He made his international debut in the One Day International match against Zimbabwe in 2004, and his Test match debut in the 2005 Ashes series against Australia the following year. The England team's subsequent reliance on Pietersen since his debut resulted in only a single first-class appearance for Hampshire between 2005 and 2010. On 17 June 2010, Pietersen announced his wish to leave Hampshire . He subsequently joined Surrey on loan for the remainder of the 2010 English county cricket season after being dropped by England due to a poor run of form, before joining the club permanently from the 2011 season onwards.
Pietersen became the fastest batsman to reach both 1,000 and 2,000 runs in One Day International cricket, and the quickest in terms of time to 5,000 Test runs. He has the highest average of any England player to have played more than 20 innings of one-day cricket. He has the second-highest run total from his first 25 Tests, behind only the Australian Donald Bradman, and was the fastest player, in terms of days, to reach 4,000 Test runs.He became only the third English batsman to top the ICC One Day International rankings, doing so in March 2007.[18] In July 2008, after a century against South Africa, The Times called him "the most complete batsman in cricket". In 2012 The Guardian called him "England's greatest modern batsman".


In the 2007 Cricket World Cup, England started in Group C with a game against New Zealand in which KP made 60 before holing out. He made another 50 against Kenya but disappointedly made just 5 against Canada as England sealed qualification. He made 48 in the unconvincing win against Ireland. Pietersen made 58 against Sri Lanka before being caught and bowled by Murali. England lost that game by 2 runs before losing the next game against Australia by 7 wickets. Pietersen crafted 104 runs off 122 balls against Australia. It was the first World Cup century by an Englishman since 1996, and the first ever against Australia. His efforts in the World Cup helped him achieve the status of International Cricket Council number-one ranked batsman in the world for ODIs. He then failed making 10 against Bangladesh and 3 against South Africa. England lost to South Africa meaning that England did not reach the semi-finals. In England's final match of the World Cup against the West Indies, Pietersen made 100 from 91 balls, and effected the run-out of retiring captain Brian Lara. This century took him past 2,000 ODI runs, in doing so equalling the record 51 matches set by Zaheer Abbas. He finished the tournament with 444 runs, at an average of 55.5, and was described as shining in the England team "like a 100 watt bulb in a room full of candles".

Pietersen gained several awards for his performances in the 2005 season. He was named both the ICC ODI Player of the Year and Emerging Player of the Year in 2005, and was one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year (alongside team mates Simon Jones and Matthew Hoggard) for his role in the successful Ashes series against Australia. Along with the rest of the England team, he was decorated in the 2006 New Year Honours list, being awarded the MBE for his role in the successful Ashes series. He also played for the ICC World XI in the 2005 ICC Super Series against Australia.


Test match performance
Records:
Second-highest run-total from his first 25 Tests (behind Sir Don Bradman).
Fourth Englishman to make the top score in both innings of debut Test.
One of only twenty-five players to have a peak ICC batting rating over 900.
Achieved 5,000 test runs in the fastest time, reaching this feat in 4 years and 243 days.




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