Kevin Pietersen Sits Out Half a Training Session to Put England on Fitness Alert

England's best batsman has thrown doubt onto his recovery from an achilles injury by sitting out running sessions and training drills


The fitness of Kevin Pietersen was the major talking point around the England camp today as the fall-out of the IPL tournament continued to hang over England's preparation for the World Twenty20, which gets under way here on Friday.

Pietersen took a full part in England's batting and fielding preparations at Loughborough today but was not involved in the training drills and extra running that preceded the net sessions. Suddenly Ricky Ponting's reference to the fitness of England's star cricketer the other day looks more than a mischievous line in pre-Ashes propaganda.

Pietersen was ruled out of the recent NatWest one-day series against West Indies with achilles trouble, which he described as a "minor ongoing injury" and which had flared up in the second Test against the same opponents at ­Chester-le-Street a fortnight ago.

Paul Collingwood, the England captain, said he expected his most important batsman to take a full part in the coming tournament but his comments were not without equivocation. "We haven't finalized 100 per cent but he will play a major part in all the games, I would have thought. He's had a few weeks rest and he's raring to go," he said.

When it comes to Pietersen injuries we must be careful, for this is a singular cricketer who, if brushed by a butterfly, can react as if he has been hit by a meteorite. He is also something of a fitness fanatic, as those who witnessed his epic runs in the build-up to the Test series in the West Indies would breathlessly confirm; when he is less than 100% he is tempted to let everyone know about it.

An absurdist might ask that, if England can play so well without Andrew Flintoff, as they have done this summer, how much better would they be without Pietersen? More seriously, however, both Flintoff, who is suffering with a knee injury, and Pietersen took part in the recent IPL tournament and, if that impinges on the Ashes series,, which starts next month, their involvement in South Africa, already viewed with scepticism, will be regarded as a great folly.

Collingwood added: "KP is important to all our cricket. He's important in the dressing room. He's got great enthusiasm." When Flintoff's name was brought into the conversation he added: "My view on Freddie is that he's a world-class player and he'd get into pretty much any side in the world. Freddie will be welcome back to the England side. We need Andrew ­Flintoff 100 per cent come the Ashes. But at the moment we're very much concentrating on this major world tournament over the next three weeks."

Collingwood does not sound quite like Henry V on the eve of battle but as he took his place in the Thomas Lord Suite alongside the other World Twenty20 captains yesterday he said: "We've got to be brave. We've got to have the belief in ourselves as a team that we can go out there and win the competition but also in our own ability as individuals out in the middle, where we've got to make some great decisions.

"Twenty20 is not an exact science and you have to think on your feet when you're out in the middle. Sometimes it only takes one person to win the game and we have a lot of match-winners in our side."

Collingwood, like Flintoff and ­Pietersen, was also in South Africa for the IPL, though he did not play. "I was out there for three weeks. It would have been great to have played, to have gained experience in the middle. But talking to the other guys, the Sehwags, the Gambhirs and so many other world-class players, getting to know how they prepared, what their thoughts were out in the middle, was very beneficial because Twenty20 cricket is a pressure situation.

"I came back with some good ideas. You still have to adapt your game to English conditions. The Indian players in the IPL teams had to adapt from Indian to South African conditions and we have to do the same back in England."

England, said Collingwood, had been enjoying the facilities at Loughborough since the squad gathered there on Saturday evening. But other teams have not been so fortunate. South Africa's captain, Graeme Smith, said last night: "We had a scheduled training at Southgate and, when we rocked up there today, it wasn't scheduled in their books so we had to make our way from Southgate to Lord's to train. It was a bit of an interesting first day and there are a few things to address in the technical briefing later."

He added: "There is a lot more talent and flair among the South African team than ever before and hopefully we can show that here."

© Guardian News & Media 2008
Published: 5/31/2009
 
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