Facing only his second ball of the innings Pietersen was given lbw after a lengthy look from the umpire after the batsman had pushed forward and the ball had hit his front pad.

It was a complete turn around from Pietersen’s magnificent 116 a few days ago in the 40 over Clydesdale Bank match against Sussex, and will at least have the selectors scratching their heads over his form in the longer game.

While on his day he is an extravagant and cavalier match winner, it is those same qualities that make Pietersen a possible liability for England particularly in test matches, and with the Ashes tour looming he faces an uphill task to stake his claim for a place in the squad.

Along with Andrew Flintoff, Pietersen was once an untouchable in the England team, it was their flair that has made them the household names of cricket. But things have moved on, Flintoff has not been around since last years Ashes due to injury and Pietersen has not seemed the same player since his own injury problems.

England no longer rely on either of these players and for the first time in years appear to have a stock of quality young players who are making the most of any chances they are given within the England set up.

While I would love KP to be among the Ashes squad, like many others  also believe that England do already have the quality of players in place to at least give Australia a hard time in the upcoming Ashes tournament.

England Cricket Team & Jaguar

While the introduction of Twenty20 was designed to add pace and excitement to the game of Cricket we are still more likely to think about it as a leisurely game that is played over the course of days rather than hours.

For three of the England’s cricketers  a rather more exciting adventure was in store last week as team partners Jaguar invited Andrew Strauss, Alistair Cook and Eoin Morgan to put the Jaguar XJ through its paces at their test track in Gaydon.

Under the watchful eye of former Formula One driver Martin Brundle, the trio were given the opportunity to put their feet to the floor of a new Jaguar XJ as part of an event organised by new Team England partner Jaguar.

Brundle and three professional driver instructors were on hand to offer advice and encourage the players to get the most out of the high powered Jaguar, the newest addition to its revitalised line up.

Jaguar became the Official Vehicle Supplier of the England Cricket Team earlier this year announcing a four year partnership that sees England’s centrally contracted cricketers drive Jaguar XJ, XF and XF models.

Jaguar has also formed a strategic partnership with the ECB’s National Performance Centre. The partnership forms part of the ‘Jaguar Academy of Sport‘ which aims to recognise, celebrate and inspire the very best of British sporting talent and success.

England captain, Andrew Strauss, commented:

“Taking the cars out today has been great fun and it was really useful to pick up a few tips from Martin and the boys. Professional cricketers do a lot of driving during the summer going from venue to venue, so after a hard day play it’s very reassuring to jump into a car as comfortable as the Jaguar XJ. It’s got everything I need: superb performance, a luxury interior, sleek design and with all that boot space, I can fit my cricket bag in without any problems too!”

Geoff Cousins, Jaguar UK managing director, said:

“It’s great to see Andrew, Eoin and Alastair enjoying themselves in the Jaguar XJs today. Consistently breathtaking performance is a distinctive quality of both a Jaguar XJ and the current England cricket team, which makes our new partnership such a great fit for the Jaguar brand.”

England Cricket Team & Jaguar

The Jaguar Academy of  Sport was launched in March 2010 and aims to recognise, celebrate and inspire the very best of British sporting talent and success.

It will fulfill this aim through a Bursary Fund which will support new British sporting talent, a prestigious annual Awards Ceremony, and a unique club of the best of British sport which will be used to inspire the next generation.

If the Australian’s found something close to their best form at the Oval, England’s luck seemed to have deserted them at times and captain Andrew Strauss blamed a ‘return to bad habits’ for the 78 run defeat.

The Australian’s put on 290 for 5 with the bat with both Michael Clarke (99 not out) and Ricky Ponting (92) starring, but England’s belief that they could chase the Aussie total down was misguided as the batting order collapsed around their ears.

Fast bowler Ryan Harris picked up 5 wickets for Australia at the expense of just 32 runs as only Michael Yardy could get past the 50 mark for England, scoring 57 runs.

While it was a poor effort from the England batsmen, Australia harried them into mistakes with some sharp bowling and fielding throughout the session and thoroughly deserved the win skittling England for 212 in 42.4 overs.

Andrew Strauss said;

“It was not so good today. I thought we could chase 290 but we lost too many wickets too early. It was a disappointing day, but you have to put it in the context of the series. We have had a lot of good days so far and we want to finish well.

We certainly want to finish the series 4-1 instead of 3-2 and finish well. As for personnel we’ll have to see how the players are tomorrow.”

Australia looked to be comfortable with the bat after being put in by Andrew Strauss, after 13 overs amassing 75 runs for no wicket, jangling the English nerves.

A decent spell from Graeme Swann (4 for 37) and then James Anderson (3 for 22) put England firmly in the driving seat dismissing the Australians for 212 in 46 overs.

With the rapid loss of Kieswetter (0) to substitute Tait’s bowling, Australia fancied having a go, but captain Andrew Strauss steadied the ship for England with a fine innings, putting on 87 runs before being dismissed at 189 for 5.

Needing just 28 runs and with six wickets in hand in the 42nd over, some fine bowling from Tait and Bollinger had the England attack twitching.

Finally Tom Bresnan became the England hero, scrambling the runs needed for the win in the final two overs of the game, with five balls spare.

There are two matches left in the series for Australia to redeem themselves, but victory is not an option as England hold a 3-0 advantage.

Australia’s Michael Clarke had already scored his highest One Day International score in England with 87 not out, setting a reasonably challenging target for the English batsmen to chase, following some mediocre run scoring from some of the Aussie big hitters.

But for a long while the Australians held the upper hand with Strauss and Collingwood going particularly cheaply.  Kieswetter (38) and Pietersen (29) didn’t really set the place alight either and it was left to Morgan and Luke Wright to put on a 95 run partnership in15 overs to turn the game in England’s favour.

Suddenly England had the impetus in what had looked to be a much closer game only a few overs before and Morgan’s ability to pick the right shots at the right time ensured that the hosts would win the game with an impressive four overs to spare.

KP leaving Hampshire

Kevin Pietersen has confirmed that he will be leaving county side Hampshire at the end of this season, claiming that living in London is an issue in playing for the Southampton based team.

Pietersen joined Hampshire from Nottinghamshire at the end of the 2004 season, but since making his England Test debut in July 2005 has figured very little in county level cricket.

He made his first appearance for Hampshire in two years in last Sunday’s Friends Provident T20 win over Surrey, and in his six seasons with the county he has featured in just two T20 games, seven County Championship matches and 17 one-dayers.

Pietersen’s agent Adam Wheatley says that there have been no approaches from other clubs  as yet, but is hoping that now the announcement has been made things may well change.

It is possible for Pietersen to continue playing International cricket without an association to a county side, an ECB spokesman confirmed this, but added, “Practically, it’s in the best interest of the player and the England management that he is registered with a county. This is so the option exists for that player to go back to his county and play cricket when required, eg in between international series.”

Ironically Pietersen returns to Hampshire’s Rose Bowl home next week for England’s opening One Day International against Australia.

Hampshire chairman of cricket Rod Bransgrove added: “Given England’s critical dependence on KP in all forms of cricket, we have not seen anything like as much of him as we would have liked over the past six years. He remains, however, a fantastic player and we wish him continued success wherever he plays.”

Of course being English we are easily able to forget how fickle the weather is in our country and the frustration of rain interrupting play, but in reality that is part and parcel of the game almost everywhere.

With the Ashes and T20 World Cup trophies in their pockets the England team is about to set out on a memorable summer of International cricket.

The first of three series of  One Day Internationals starts in just a couple of weeks time on June 22nd with five matches against Australia, followed by three matches against Bangladesh.

One Day Internationals return for a final series of five matches against Pakistan on September 10th, preceded by two Twenty20 games with Pakistan on September 5th and 7th.

If limited over cricket is a bit too exciting, Test match fans will be happy to know that they too are well catered for in the upcoming months.

Pakistan will entertain Australia in the npower test match series that runs from July 13th to July 25th with a five day series at both Lords and Headingley.

On July 29th Pakistan will take on England in the same npower series with matches taking place at Trent Bridge and Edgbaston, both five day series that will end on August 10th.

The Ashes series will follow in Australia on November 25th and finishing on December 30th and if you are in Australia for Christmas the Ashes tickets are available now to make for an even more unforgettable holiday down under.

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One of England’s heroes from the Test matches against Bangladesh, Finn took 15 wickets from the two match series, including a 5 for 42 during the final innings of the game.

National selector Geoff Miller has told the 21 year old bowler that he will be rested from the upcoming summer One Day Internationals against Australia and Bangladesh to undergo a similar programme that led to Stuart Broad being rested for the recent Test matches.

With the emergence of so much young talent in the England squad the selectors obviously feel that have enough cover available to enable them to undertake ongoing training programmes for their young stars without fielding a weakened side.

It is great news for England cricket that the national team has such a depth of quality and that young players are not just being given the opportunity to play at the highest level, but are grabbing their chance with both hands.

It wasn’t too long ago that the fans would wince at the loss of players like Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen who could change a game single handed, how things have changed over the past year or so.

New stars have emerged as England stole the Ashes from Australia last year and have continued to come in and perform at the highest level ever since. To allow these young stars to continue ongoing training programmes has to be applauded and can only make them even better players for the future.

For the first time in many years the future of national English Cricket looks bright, lets hope that at last we are getting things right at every level of the game.

jonathan trott

The thrills and spills of limited over cricket, so recently prominent in England’s victorious T20 World Cup winning campaign, were soon a long and distant memory as chancers gave way to thinkers in the first Test match between England and Bangladesh at Lords.

Having spent the T20 finals unable to leave the room for sustenance or relief for fear of missing the action, the return of Test match cricket at least allowed long periods to be spent in the kitchen making tea and sandwiches safe in the knowledge that barely anything significant would have happened during your absence.

Jonathan Trott appears to be a batsman made for the occasion and having arrived at the crease with England at seven for one, he stayed there for for over eight hours in a patient and deliberate innings in which he ground out 226 runs to put England in a commanding position  at 505 all out.

Losing Cook, Bell and Pietersen cheaply made Trott’s achievements all the more significant and although it was not a pretty innings, Trott barely put a foot wrong throughout showing remarkable self discipline with the bat.

1st Innings England 505 all out – Bangladesh now batting

england T20 world cup captain

England T20 captain Paul Collingwood told BBC Radio 5 that his team went to the Caribbean to win the World Cup and achieved just that, adding “It’s a massive achievement. We’ve had a monkey on our backs having not won an ICC trophy and put that right.”

Collingwood, who’s England team crushed Australia by seven wickets to land the T20 World Cup said that the win was ‘up there with last years Ashes win’.

“Of course it’s different to Ashes. But in the last five years we’ve done well against them, it’s a different form of game but beating them is always sweet.”

Consistency was the key to England winning the trophy for the first time and Collingwood praised his players for building the momentum that took them all the way to the final.

“It’s a different form of the game to the Ashes – it only takes three hours and the tournament only went for a couple of weeks – but there’s still all that preparation work you’ve got to do. When you do something for the first time – winning the World Cup for us as the England cricket team – it’s definitely something very special. You’re playing against world-class outfits, there’s always challenges that come along at different stages throughout the tournament. The way that the guys have overcome all them and come out on top, a lot of credit goes to the boys. The euphoria of winning it is very, very similar to the Ashes.”

There was also good news for some of England’s young guns from team director Andy Flower, who suggested that the names of Eoin Morgan and Craig Kieswetter would be on the agenda when the selectors meet ahead of next week’s  first Test against Bangladesh.

He said: “We have a selection meeting later this week. They look like very fine players and handled the pressure of the World Cup very well. They have great skills for Twenty20 cricket and they have a lot of time on their side as they are very young.”