Good news for England, Paul Collingwood is looking in better form at the end of a poor summer.
Some runs, a stunning catch and a wicket (the danger man Umar Akmal) of his medium pacers. All while struggling with a migraine!
Never mind the one dropped catch, this match will do him a world of good. And talk about him missing the plane to Australia can end now.
Yesterday, I said the news of Flintoff’s retirement was a sad thing. But it wasn’t.
I already felt a bit ambiguous writing it down, but only later realized why.
It is sad how we never saw the Flintoff of 2005 – as a person and a cricketer – back in action after that series. His announcement yesterday just triggered that feeling.
But the fact Flintoff is retiring from cricket doesn’t make me sad at all.
Andrew Flintoff retires from all forms of cricket. His announcement hardly comes as a surprise, but it is sad news nonetheless.
I don’t have a lot more to say about this right now.
Lets watch a video.
England dropped Pietersen from the Twenty20 and ODI series against Pakistan to spent some valuable time in the middle playing in Surrey’s four-days games.
So far, the plan is not working.
Now it could be Andy Flower didn’t get the message across to Pietersen: “It’s about time in the middle KP!” Or perhaps Pietersen is getting back at the England management by getting out early?
But seriously, I don’t think this whole go-play-for-Surrey-thing will do Pietersen’s confidence any good. In fact, if anything, it will have the opposite effect.
Lets face it, even if he scores a big century, it will be against a county side. Does anyone believe Pietersen will be really impressed by himself dominating a county bowling attack?
But if he fails – like yesterday, out for nought on the second ball – the effect could much, much bigger. Only negative.
Forcing him to play county cricket to get back in form while his England teammates are out playing Twenty20′s and ODI’s against Pakistan is counterproductive.
The only thing that will restore Pietersen’s confidence is playing international cricket and performing on that stage.
Well, that, and maybe Paul Collingwood having dinner with him.
The best place to follow the news of a “Twitter-fuck up” – like the one from Kevin Pietersen today – is off course Twitter. It is always fast and often funny and insightful.
This is part of how my Twitter timeline looked after Pietersen’s mishap spread. (Scroll all the way down, I’m making a point there 
)
To me, this is why Twitter is so great. News spreads fast and you get lots of information and opinion delivered directly to you.
All you need to do is sign up for an account and start following people or lists.
Well well, Kevin Pietersen’s summer just got worse:
Rather stupid of him – a bit of controversy he could do well without currently – and exactly why England management doesn’t like England players using social media.
But I think he has a point though.
Why would England drop him from the Twenty20 squad? Pietersen was Man of the Tournament of the last World T20 and the upcoming Twenty20′s looked like the perfect games for him to rebuild some of his shattered confidence.
Perhaps Andy Flower is looking to repeat the same trick that worked with Matt Prior – who got dropped from the one-day teams and responded in Tests. If he is, I think Flower got it wrong this time and it will just leave Pietersen in a deeper hole.
Whatever the reasoning behind dropping him, Pietersen doesn’t believe it will do him good and the decision has backfired on England management already.
