Bat and ball / Andrew Hughes / 08 July 2010 /

It seemed that England's leading batsman was back to his best during the World Twenty20. But he has struggled so far this summer and injury will keep him out of the series against Bangladesh. Andrew Hughes asks whether we should be worried.

Kevin Pietersen is one of the best batsman in world cricket, arguably one of the best to have ever represented England. A test average of 49.2 does not lie and anyone who witnessed his brutal onslaughts during the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean would have been forgiven for thinking that, after a frustrating year, he was back to his best in the shorter formats of the game too.

But it seems that, perhaps because he is so far ahead of them in terms of talent, Pietersen has to do more than his peers to keep people happy. A disappointing one day series against Australia, during which he managed only 95 runs in 5 games has led some to speculate that, at the age of thirty, we might already have seen the best of Pietersen as an international cricketer.

Those putting forward that view do have some statistical evidence to support their case. His Test average over the last two years is 48.48, falling to 42.00 in the last twelve months. Similarly, whilst his one day international average is a healthy 42.17, it is a poor 17.08 over the last year. The only area in which he seems to be improving, based purely on statistics, is in Twenty20 cricket, where he has averaged 63.66 in the last twelve months and 49.81 over the last two years.

This last statistic leads some to suggest that his lucrative IPL contract has led him to favour the shorter forms of the game and neglect the longer. And for some critics, there will always be a doubt over his loyalty to English cricket and its traditions. But these criticisms are inaccurate and unfair. Pietersen clearly takes pride in playing Test cricket for his adopted country; anyone who saw his celebrations when he scored a century against South Africa at Lord's in 2008 will attest to that.

And to an extent, his relatively poor performances over the last eighteen months can be put down to injury. The whole of 2009 was blighted by an achilles problem that required surgery and a long rehabilitation to put right. Not everyone appreciated how difficult that recovery was and it is hardly surprising that it affected his performances. If he can remain fit, he could have another five or six years at the top level, years in which he has the opportunity to cement his reputation as one of the all-time greats.

In the short term though, the biggest threat to his reputation is not injury or burnout, but his vulnerability to left-arm spinners, a technical problem that was apparent as long ago as 2007 when Yuvraj Singh had him all kinds of trouble. Few batsmen work as hard on their game as Pietersen and he has clearly made adjustments, but the jury is still out on whether these will solve the problem; his dismissal by Shakib Al Hasan in the Test series suggesting there is more work to be done.

For now, a thigh strain will keep him out of the current one day series with Bangladesh and his absence provides an opportunity for either Ian Bell or Jonathan Trott to establish themselves in that format. Bell had the first chance and took it impressively on Thursday, top scoring as England cruised to a six wicket win. England have never lost a one day international against Bangladesh and with the first game under their belt, they are as short as [1.02] to clinch the series with the tourists [20.0] to spring a surprise victory.

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