chris77 wrote
Aggree with you on KP. He might be a great player, but he will never be a remembered as Great. After his knock at Headingley I argued with my brother in law that he isn't really that good. Just dumb enough to play those shots in a Test match and that any good batsmen can do the same if they choose to play aggresively and don't mind risking gifting their wicket to the opposition cheaply.
But it's always that way. If it works then you were a genius, audacious etc etc. If it doesn't then you were a fool. Personally I thought it was a superb innings and he didn't take a lot of chances really. In fact he played quite steadily at first and then opened up once he had his eye in. Top knock. Really.
I guess the difference between the genius and the chancer is that the genius gets away with often enough. Which is not that often. Robin Jackman was saying last night that in cricket you fail more than you succeed - and that's right. If you score a ton every third time you bat in tests then your name is Don Bradman. If you're scoring tons every 5th innings then your name is Tendulkar. Another way of looking at it is that Bradman failed 2/3 of the time and Tendulkar fails 80% of the time. It's a harsh game.
Pietersen, at Leeds, played the sort of knock that Viv Richards used to play: Nobody looks that keen on bowling at him, nobody knows WHERE to bowl, and the captain knows that whatever field he sets the batsman is going to find a gap and exploit it - or just go over the top and render the field a non-issue. Not many players can do that to a fielding side.
