Buzzin Cricket

Following Kevin Pietersen’s excellent start to his reign as England captain – which has seen him win every game against South Africa so far – Andrew Flintoff has praised the new skipper by saying that his confidence is rubbing off on the rest of the players in the dressing room.

Andrew Flintoff has been a major factor in England’s recent one-day success, but he believes that the credit should go to Michael Vaughan’s successor Kevin Pietersen. Andrew Flintoff admits that there is a different atmosphere amongst the squad now and this is having a positive affect on team performances. Ashes betting is even being changed because of the feel good factor.

This all makes sense to me. Michael Vaughan was struggling with the bat during the latter stages of his captaincy and many players may have though to themselves – ‘If our captain can’t do it, how are we supposed to do it?’. This has completely changed under Kevin Pietersen. He is in some of the best batting form of his life and has faith in the rest of his players who are following his excellent example with the bat. Matt Prior, Ian Bell and Owais Shah have all showed signs of good form with the bat and this has come on the back of Kevin Pietersen becoming skipper.

Most importantly for the England cricket team though, Andrew Flintoff is looking back to his best with the bat. Kevin Pietersen has handed the Lancashire all-rounder the responsibility of batting at five and it appears he is revelling in the positivity of his new captain. There has never been any doubt surrounding Andrew Flintoff’s bowling, but if he can continue his excellent batting form it will help England become a force in both forms of international cricket. I’d place a lot more of my cricket betting money on England winning the Ashes next year if Andrew Flintoff is firing all on cylinders.

One of the other key factors behind the excellent start to the new era is, of course, the return of Steve Harmison. Like Andrew Flintoff, it appears that Steve Harmison is enjoying the new captain’s approach very much and England are reaping the awards. There is a doubt about Steve Harmison’s ability to tour this winter, but if anyone can convince him to do so and get him to perform – it’s Kevin Pietersen. Hopefully, in the same way that Nasser Hussain always got the best out of Andrew Caddick, Kevin Pietersen can get the best out of Steve Harmison.

Everyone knows that things will get tougher for Kevin Pietersen in the future. Perhaps he should be judged more after the winter, but at the moment you cannot fault how he is performing in his new role. He has won five matches in a row, has scored plenty of runs himself and is getting the best out of his senior players. All good really isn’t it? England are looking to seal a 5-0 whitewash against South Africa tomorrow and the way things are going, I’m not going to bet against it.