I used to read Jim Holden in the Sunday Express until I stopped buying newspapers. But I read his column with interest today as he steps on the “have a go at KP” bandwagon…

Of course people are entitled to say that he has been irresponsible in losing his wicket, but he is an impetuous player and you take the rough with the smooth. His dismissal on 97 is not the reason we got bowled out for 51. A team worth its salt should be able to work its way out of losing early wickets to recover, so to lay the blame there is a bit wrong, in my opinion.

This bit at the end makes me chuckle…

“Instinct can be a treacherous friend. At the moment, and this statistic may surprise some people who believe all the hype that Kevin Pietersen is the best cricketer in the world today, there are nine current Test players who have a
superior batting average to England’s vainglorious talent.”

As anyone who reads this blog, knows me etc, I am a huge fan of KP. Do I think he’s better than Ponting, Tendulkar, Sehwag, Dravid and some others I can’t recall at this time – not really, and I certainly don’t think he is the best in the world. The ICC rankings have him 4th behind Mohammed Yousuf, Kumar Sangakkara and Shiv Chanderpaul. He isn’t doing too badly for a vainglorious talent. Pick and choose how you want the stats you use as evidence. KP averages over 50, which is the watershed for greatness, apparantly. And he doesn’t bat in the sub-continent a lot to bolster them. We’ll see where Mike Hussey, the Incredible Shrinking Average is in 20 tests time too……

More rants later…