Pietersen’s Ingenuity Too Much for New Zealand in Durham

June 15, 2008 by Rob Scanlon

England Cricket Logo England (307-5) beat New Zealand (193 all out) by 114 runs

This report could have been written the second Ian Bell pouched a mis-hit back foot shot from Brendon McCullum in the 9th over of New Zealand’s reply. Set a daunting 308 to win, this was always going to be a tough ask for a side who are desperatly low on confidence and lacking form. The mercurial McCullum was their only real hope and his dismissal for a quickfire 36 to Stuart Broad’s first delivery rendered the game with an instant feeling of inevitability. If the opener had been in until the 30th over perhaps, then the Kiwis may have won but they are now overly reliant on their star player, particularly with Jacob Oram still sidelined. The game was up as soon as McCullum let out an audible yelp when he realised his false shot.

England’s innings was very positive. Put into bat on a ground they have very little experience of, Ian Bell and Luke Wright built a stand of 49 before Wright - still showing the nerves of a younger player - was caught for 11. It’s important to give the man time though, despite only showing faint glimpses of his genuine talent so far. After that dismissal it became the Kevin Pietersen show. His unbeaten 110 from 112 balls was the perfect one day innings and gave England’s number 3 his first one day hundred on home soil.

Two shots in particular show how Pietersen can be set apart from the rest of the pack, not to mention his average of over 50. As Scott Styris trundled in for one of his regular medium pace deliveries, Pietersen exchanged the position of his hands, adopted a hasty left hand stance and smacked the ball over the boundary rope for a startling maximum that had the Riverside audience salivating. He repeated the feat a couple of overs later, this time hitting it even further and leaving Styris to smile, shrug his shoulders and troop back to his mark, totally bemused yet fascinated at the same time.

The shot caused hours of discussion among the Sky Sports commentators, with Michael Holding claiming the shot shouldn’t really be allowed as bowlers can’t change delivery hands mid run up for example, and the shot was the shot of a left hander, with a left handers grip, and of course the field was set for a right hander. It will certainly be a talking point for current and ex-players I’m sure. Personally I was captivated, the brilliance and sheer strength of it mind blowing. The shot should be kept ‘legal’ and Pietersen should continue to express himself- it’s brilliant for the game.

An excellent cameo of 49 runs from 25 balls from the hard hitting Owais Shah, after a timely and industrious 64 from Collingwood took England past 300 as the bowling became increasingly erratic and ragged. The last few overs were scattered with no-balls, wides, and sloppy fielding. Allowing a 19 year old in Tim Southee to bowl the last over on his debut, meant New Zealand looked defeated as the innings drew to a close with Vettori seemingly out of ideas.

McCullum’s 36 turned out to be the top score of New Zeland’s reply, with Collingwood mopping up the tail with a spell of 4 wickets in 17 balls. Broad’s 8 overs only cost him 16 runs, and his removal of both openers was another sign that the 21 year old is a huge prospect for the future- his height being a great advantage to the England seam attack. New Zealand were all out for 193 with 42.5 overs gone and a comprehensive victory was complete.

England now take a 1-0 lead in the 5 match series and at the present time, it is almost unfeasible to see New Zealand recovering from such dire straits. They have too many average bowlers and are stocked with batsmen in the middle order who look very vulnerable. They need the big figure of Oram to return if they want a repeat of their 3-1 win in the reverse one day series last winter.

The next match begins on Wednesday at 10.45 from Edgbaston.

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