Pietersen & Prior.

[The Wizard]

Pietersen was out of the game for 4-5 months with his achilles operation. It was always going to be difficult for KP to score runs against one of the best test teams in the world at the moment. After all, you would not chuck a footballer straight in at the deep end after a similar length of time out injured and expect them to hit top form immediately.

Exactly, Pietersen is class, he is just out of form, like Collingwood in the ashes series (barring Cardiff), England stuck with him and he succeeded, I'd put money on KP getting back to top form soon enough, its a ticking time bomb.

 

[Gwylan]

KP needs to go on the Bangladesh tour and get some easy runs - if he fails there, yes, he might need to be given a rest.

I think Prior is on a stickier wicket as the selectors have proved that they like Saffers in the team and Prior's not a real one.... he's practically English

I reckon that Prior will go to Bangladesh but he has to have a really good series - but there's an outside chance that the selectors will opt for Kieswetter.

 

[KZNSeagull]

Prior's wicketkeeping has improved a lot and he is the only English wicketkeeper who can regularly score big runs. I would expect his place to be safe. I believe he could easily bat at 6 if England ever needed an extra bowler. As for how he was out yesterday, then if England are having to rely on their number 7 and 8 to get them out of a hole, then there is something seriously wrong with the first 6!!

As for KP, he has been found out in this series (other than the first test) and seriously needs to think about whether he is playing for himself or the team. The shot he was out to yesterday is fine if you are 200-2, not when you are 30 odd for 2. If he wants to become a great test player, he has to adapt to the situation he finds himself in. He has done it before. Maybe it's the beard??!!

Having said that, I think this England batting line up is strong and is probably the best we have had for a while. What isn't strong is their decision making - too many poor shots at the wrong time. Also, 2 tests in a row now that they appear to have done the wrong thing after winning the toss. Strange, as that is what won us the Ashes.

Lets hope they have a better day today.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

both are in danger of losing their test place. Pietersen appears to be interested in other matters like playing test cricket for the country he should be playing for - South Africa

ENOUGH ALREADY!

 

[keaton]

Should we drop Strauss then? Pietersen has the excuse of being unfit but Strauss came here on a high and in-form and is averaging less. And Pietersen made a crucial innings to in the first test, Strauss hasn't done too much. Trott's only doing slightly better, and he's not got four years of looking like a brilliant test batsmen to keep his place safe. The only three batsmen who've done well this series are Cook, Bell and Collingwood who expects like Boycott would've had dropped for good ages ago

 

[Danny-Boy]

KP needs to be dropped IMO

Yes I'd agree with that. Who do we play in Tests before we face the Aussies again, btw?

 

[Perry Milkins]

Should we drop Strauss then? Pietersen has the excuse of being unfit but Strauss came here on a high and in-form and is averaging less. And Pietersen made a crucial innings to in the first test, Strauss hasn't done too much. Trott's only doing slightly better, and he's not got four years of looking like a brilliant test batsmen to keep his place safe. The only three batsmen who've done well this series are Cook, Bell and Collingwood who expects like Boycott would've had dropped for good ages ago

I accept those points entirely it is just that KP, to me, pervades an attitude of 'I don't give a damn' and does appaer to play whatever style of game suits him and is thus self focused and not team focused. It is that that really annoys me.

Alledgedley he is not that 'team centric' in the dressing room either.

 

[keaton]

I accept those points entirely it is just that KP, to me, pervades an attitude of 'I don't give a damn' and does appaer to play whatever style of game suits him and is thus self focused and not team focused. It is that that really annoys me.

Alledgedley he is not that 'team centric' in the dressing room either.

He's certainly got an arrongance that makes him hard to like, but think you need those sort of players sometimes. It wasn't too long ago that Kallis was almost forced out of the South African team for being percieved as selfish and playing for himself and not the team

 

[Don Tmatter]

Yes I'd agree with that. Who do we play in Tests before we face the Aussies again, btw?

Think its Bangladesh away & home then Pakistan at home.

 

[Storer68]

Records / 2009 / Test matches / Most runs

Statistics Home | Statsguru | 2010 Records | 2000s Records | All Records | Ask Steven | Numbers Game | The List | It Figures Most runs Player Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave BF SR 100 50 0 4s 6s
TT Samaraweera (SL) 11 20 3 1234 231 72.58 2115 58.34 4 4 1 170 4
DPMD Jayawardene (SL) 11 20 1 1194 275 62.84 2288 52.18 3 3 1 132 2
AJ Strauss (Eng) 14 24 2 1172 169 53.27 2165 54.13 4 4 0 151 2
SM Katich (Aus) 13 23 0 1111 122 48.30 2182 50.91 2 8 1 125 4
TM Dilshan (SL) 11 18 1 1097 162 64.52 1327 82.66 6 1 2 122 9
KC Sangakkara (SL) 11 20 1 1083 137 57.00 1979 54.72 4 5 0 121 3
MJ Clarke (Aus) 13 23 4 1042 138 54.84 1874 55.60 3 5 3 115 1
AN Cook (Eng) 14 24 3 960 160 45.71 1984 48.38 3 4 2 110 1
PD Collingwood (Eng) 14 21 2 915 161 48.15 1902 48.10 2 7 1 88 2
RT Ponting (Aus) 13 23 1 853 150 38.77 1264 67.48 1 7 2 111 6
RR Sarwan (WI) 9 14 0 850 291 60.71 1461 58.17 4 1 0 101 3
MEK Hussey (Aus) 13 23 1 804 121 36.54 1818 44.22 1 6 3 106 1
LRPL Taylor (NZ) 8 14 0 782 151 55.85 1338 58.44 2 4 0 106 9
DL Vettori (NZ) 8 14 1 779 140 59.92 1161 67.09 3 3 0 83 4
KP Pietersen (Eng) 11 17 1 760 102 47.50 1304 58.28 1 5 1 80 4
R Dravid (India) 6 10 1 747 177 83.00 1537 48.60 2 5 0 97 4
MJ Prior (Eng) 13 20 3 740 131* 43.52 1018 72.69 1 6 2 90 2
CH Gayle (WI) 10 16 1 739 165* 49.26 1091 67.73 4 1 1 82 18
G Gambhir (India) 5 9 1 727 167 90.87 1401 51.89 4 1 0 82 2
SR Watson (Aus) 7 12 1 716 120* 65.09 1318 54.32 1 6 1 101 1
BJ Haddin (Aus) 12 18 2 706 121 44.12 1075 65.67 1 4 1 82 11
MJ North (Aus) 11 18 1 701 125* 41.23 1475 47.52 3 3 2 82 1
V Sehwag (India) 6 9 0 631 293 70.11 579 108.98 2 1 0 92 11
BP Nash (WI) 10 16 0 585 109 36.56 1429 40.93 1 4 0 73 1
Kamran Akmal (Pak) 9 15 2 581 158* 44.69 788 73.73 1 4 1 63 11
AB de Villiers (SA) 6 11 1 572 163 57.20 1071 53.40 2 4 0 56 9
Mohammad Yousuf (Pak) 7 14 0 566 112 40.42 1174 48.21 1 4 2 57 4
SR Tendulkar (India) 6 9 1 541 160 67.62 969 55.83 2 3 0 71 4
JH Kallis (SA) 6 11 0 532 120 48.36 1060 50.18 2 2 0 69 3
NT Paranavitana (SL) 10 18 0 530 73 29.44 1035 51.20 0 4 2 68 0
MG Johnson (Aus) 13 17 2 500 123* 33.33 765 65.35 1 3 3 64 11
BB McCullum (NZ) 8 14 0 484 115 34.57 831 58.24 1 3 2 55 2
PJ Hughes (Aus) 5 9 0 472 160 52.44 806 58.56 2 1 1 61 6
VVS Laxman (India) 6 9 2 471 124* 67.28 953 49.42 1 5 1 70 0
D Ramdin (WI) 10 16 1 471 166 31.40 866 54.38 1 3 3 70 1
S Chanderpaul (WI) 9 14 1 466 147* 35.84 1255 37.13 1 3 1 46 1
RS Bopara (Eng) 7 10 0 460 143 46.00 863 53.30 3 0 1 57 2
Umar Akmal (Pak) 4 8 0 457 129 57.12 687 66.52 1 4 1 58 8
JD Ryder (NZ) 5 9 0 454 201 50.44 820 55.36 2 0 1 51 3
GP Swann (Eng) 12 14 4 452 85 45.20 526 85.93 0 4 1 59 5
Younis Khan (Pak) 5 7 0 444 313 63.42 831 53.42 1 1 1 39 4
SCJ Broad (Eng) 14 21 4 431 61 25.35 647 66.61 0 2 2 57 3
HAPW Jayawardene (SL) 8 13 3 419 154* 41.90 715 58.60 1 0 1 45 3
HM Amla (SA) 6 11 0 384 100 34.90 866 44.34 1 3 1 52 0
AD Mathews (SL) 7 11 1 379 99 37.90 635 59.68 0 2 0 47 4
MS Dhoni (India) 5 6 2 369 110 92.25 623 59.22 2 2 0 34 8
Shoaib Malik (Pak) 7 11 1 364 134 36.40 751 48.46 1 1 1 43 4
MV Boucher (SA) 6 11 1 335 89 33.50 733 45.70 0 2 1 36 2
MJ Guptill (NZ) 8 14 0 329 60 23.50 663 49.62 0 1 2 48 4
TM Dowlin (WI) 4 8 0 328 95 41.00 695 47.19 0 3 0 40 1

Matches are credited to the year they start in and no special account is taken of matches that overlap years