MISSING MATCHES

Kevin Pietersen might not be able to play for England in the upcoming test series against New Zealand which will start in the third week of May.

Pietersen had discovered a knee injury on the New Zealand tour and was ruled out from the third test match of that series. He has been out of cricket since then.

He was expected to get fit before the home series against New Zealand, but, his recovery hasn’t been as fast as it was anticipated. He still has a lot of problems in his knee and there have been a few reports that he might have to go through surgery.

Now, England would certainly not want that. If Pietersen has to go through surgery, he will certainly miss the Champions Trophy and the initial parts of the Ashes series.

In a couple of days’ time, there will be a meeting of the medical staff of the England Cricket team and in that meeting; Pietersen’s fitness will be discussed. The medical staff is expected to advice Pietersen to rest for a few more days.

However, there is some good news for the England team management as well. Tim Bresnan has completely recovered from his elbow injury and he is ready to play his first competitive match in 3 months. He will feature for his county Yorkshire in a friendly fixture against Lancashire which is going to be played at Headingley.

When asked about the condition of his elbow, Bresnan said, “My elbow is fine now. I have been bowling with good pace in the nets and now, I am looking forward to have a crack against Lancashire.”

“I don’t want to miss any more matches. I have missed a lot of them. I just want to play more and more games for Yorkshire and take a lot of wickets so that I can get back into the national side again.”

KP INJURED

Kevin Pietersen has discovered a knee injury while playing in the first test match against New Zealand and it’s not certain whether he will play in the next match or not.

Pietersen looked out of nick in both the innings in the first test match. When he was batting in the second innings, he felt pain in his knee and the physio ran onto the ground to give him a bit of treatment.

In the post match press conference, the England captain Alastair Cook admitted that Pietersen’s knee injury is a matter of concern for the team management.

Cook said, “KP has injured his knee. He will go for a scan tomorrow and then, we will know how bad the injury is.”

“He is a key batsman of the team and we don’t want to lose him for the remainder of the series. But, we will not take any risk either. We will follow the instructions of the medical team. If they say that KP should take a bit of rest, we will send him back home.”

Cook was looking very happy with the brilliant batting performance of his team in the second innings of the first test match. New Zealand had taken a lead of 293 runs in the first innings. But, England batted almost for two days in the second innings and saved the test match. Cook himself showed the way to the other players with a brilliant hundred at the top of the order.

When asked about the performance of the batsmen in the second innings, Cook said, “In the second innings, we batted brilliantly. We batted like champions. There were five sessions to go and they were ahead by 293. It was a tall order. But, we showed great determination and ended up saving the match.”

KP HITS 50

Kevin Pietersen scored a half century in the fourth ODI match against India. Pietersen played a fine knock of 76 runs and helped England to reach a respectable total of 257 runs in 50 overs. However, that total didn’t prove to be good enough at the end and the Indian team chased down the target with ease.

Pietersen came onto the field after the fall of Ian Bell’s wicket. He had a shaky start. He was not looking comfortable in the beginning of his innings. He was having problems against Ishant Sharma. But, Pietersen didn’t throw his wicket away. He hung in there and fought his way out. After spending an hour or so at the crease, he got settled down and after that, he played some glorious strokes.

He hit Ashwin down the ground for his first four. Pietersen got his second boundary off the same bowler. He came down the track to a quicker delivery and flicked it towards square leg. Ishant was there at the boundary, but, he took it a bit easy and the ball went through his legs.

In the death overs, Pietersen played some extremely powerful shots. In one over of Shami Ahmed, he hit two muscular shots straight down the ground and the ball went to the boundary in no time.

When Ishant Sharma was brought into the attack, Pietersen welcomed him with a lofted shot over the extra cover and then, he hit the same bowler for a gigantic six over deep midwicket. He was looking in a furious mood. But, Ishant Sharma dismissed him with an over pitched delivery. The ball was right in the slot for the big hit, but, Pietersen missed it altogether and the stumps got rattled.

Pietersen faced 93 deliveries and hit 7 fours and 1 six.