Pietersen gives Test cricket a good Bashing...
...and the county cricket ‘muppets’
ENGLAND arrived here to find a familiar face waiting and ready to put on a show for them today in front of a sell-out WACA crowd.
Kevin Pietersen has been like Banquo’s ghost at England’s feast ever since they sacked him and today he will have the perfect opportunity to show them what they are missing when he plays in the Big Bash semi-final.
A number of England players are expected to watch Pietersen’s Melbourne Stars take on Perth Scorchers in a last-four contest in the massively successful Australian Twenty20 competition.
A delicious irony has brought the man who has haunted England’s progress all year to Perth at the same time as his old team-mates, who will face India here in a Tri-series match on Friday which they must win to make the final.
Pietersen has made a big impact in the Big Bash and is a fan of the Australian franchise competition that has shown the way forward for an English Twenty20 game that has been left lagging behind.
He said: ‘I love how competitive the cricket is, the way the tournament is run, the time between the games, playing for a brilliant franchise.’
There was a message to England in there somewhere. As there was, too, when Pietersen was asked if England could learn from the Big Bash, which yesterday saw a crowd of over 52,000 at the Adelaide Oval for Sydney’s semi-final win over the home side.
He said: ‘They can learn because the franchise system works. Playing once a week doesn’t work in the UK.’
Pietersen struggled for form in the wake of his exile from England for Surrey and Delhi in the Indian League but he has been more like his old self playing for Melbourne.
But whether he has a future in an English county system, where the salary cap has just been reduced, remains to be seen.
Pietersen does not approve of the cost-cutting measures that emerged last week.
‘They say they want to help home-grown players,’ he said ‘But the best way to make them become better is to play against better players. Find a way to franchise county cricket.
‘All the muppets who are on £18 grand, £15 grand, either you become better or you go and do something else. The best players would play against each other every week. That’s how you become better. You don’t do it by reducing salary caps.’
Pietersen expressed concerns about the future of Test cricket.
‘I worry about Test cricket,’ he added. ‘Kids have no interest in it but look at how they are filling the stadiums for Big Bash cricket.’