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Media lash KP and his ego
22/07/2008 22:03 - (SA)
Die Burger
Altus Momberg
Leeds - England's cricket team took another beating on Tuesday - this time at the hands of the British sportswriters.
And no one received a bigger hiding than Kevin Pietersen, the former South African who had been lavishly praised after scoring 152 in the first match of the four-Test series.
The English selectors also remained under the cosh for including the inexperienced swing bowler Darren Pattinson for the second Test, which South Africa won by ten wickets on the fourth day on Monday.
Pietersen, who hammered three fours off the first four balls he faced in England's second innings, has been criticised for being "selfish". He went to the wicket as if he were playing in a Twenty20 match and lasted only five balls.
British sportswriters were unanimous in their praise for AB de Villiers and Ashwell Prince, who scored big centuries as the Proteas showed the home team how to bat at Headingley.
England's batsmen, in contrast, were castigated for not showing discipline.
Former England bowler Derek Pringle wrote in The Telegraph that Pietersen's innings was a study in talent without responsibility.
The few fireworks in his five-ball innings would have convinced his critics that he largely batted for his own enjoyment, Pringle wrote.
Proteas were a different class
Runs had been important to England on Monday but not as important as to bat for four or five hours as Graeme Smith, Neil McKenzie en Hashim Amla had done at Lord's.
Pietersen's "ego" also came under fire in The Express . "He went in, hit three fours and was dismissed by his own ego. That was the last thing England needed of their star batsman," the newspaper reported.
Another former Test bowler, Angus Fraser, writing in The Independent, said it had been an unbelievable innings.
Batsmen in that situation are sometimes advised to play their natural game but if one takes into consideration how hard James Anderson fought for his team, it was a waste of an innings, according to Fraser.
Fraser praised the Proteas, saying they had dominated every session of the match.
Former England captain Michael Atherton wrote in The Times both teams had received from the match what they had deserved.
"The South Africans were in a different class," Atherton wrote.
From the way their fast bowlers ran in to place England's batsmen under continuous pressure, the strict discipline their batsmen showed, the way catches were taken (one AB de Villiers effort excluded) through to Mark Boucher's nine wicketkeeper's victims were outstanding, he added.
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