Pietersen is a great batsman, but?

[King]

LONDON: It is difficult to remember a time when Matt Prior played an inappropriate innings. At Lord?s on Sunday he patiently watched from the other end while Kevin Pietersen scored his ninth Test century, in itself an exercise in ... More... Pietersen is a great batsman, but… Ted Corbett LONDON: It is difficult to remember a time when Matt Prior played an inappropriate innings. At Lord’s on Sunday he patiently watched from the other end while Kevin Pietersen scored his ninth Test century, in itself an exercise in waiting for the right moment to strike. Prior made a memorable debut against West Indies a couple of months ago with a two hour innings full of exotic shots, went on to support Pietersen as he reached a double hundred at Leeds and finished the series against that wretched West Indies team with his place in the England team firmly in his grasp. Since then he has suffered the English disease. Do well and everyone in the country searches for a reason to denigrate your performances. The Australians call it the tall poppy syndrome. Success brings a grim reaper. Drop two catches in a Test as Prior did in the first innings and an expedition is mounted to find your replacement. Let someone come to the fore with a big innings, as Geraint Jones did for Kent this week-end and your future is seen as one of misery. Composed knock Prior, poor man, has already been theoretically at any rate cast into the outer darkness since the Jones century off Warwickshire and so he must have gone to the wicket after three England middle order batsmen had gone for 30 runs and a victory seemed to be in doubt with some consternation. The situation did not worry him in the slightest and he looked ready for another hundred when he was caught for 42. He repeated his Headingley act by hanging around until Pietersen bludgeoned his way to 100 with 15 runs off an over from Anil Kumble and then set off on a celebration which would have given that great celebrant Michael Slater a glow of satisfaction. It was designed to prove that all those of us who criticised his declaration that he was mentally exhausted. I retract nothing I said in these columns recently. Pietersen is a great batsman but not yet a fully grown human being. I could watch him bat all day and cheer every searing shot yet I do not wish to be his best buddy. Singh impressive Michael Vaughan also showed us something of his quality after his studied defence on day three and it was easy to think he might set up a declaration and a victory on his own. Then along came R.P. Singh to bowl him an outswinger which whistled through the slips for four and an inswinger which caught the edge of Vaughan’s bat and crashed into his stumps.