MELBOURNE: Kevin Pietersen played a cautious out-of-character innings and lived a charmed life as English wickets clattered around him on an attritional opening day of the dead-rubber fourth Ashes Test against Australia on Thursday.
Pietersen, under fire for his unproductive batting in England’s troubled series, curbed his natural attacking instincts to keep the pressing Australians at bay.
Pietersen went to stumps unbeaten on a dogged 67 off 152 balls, with Tim Bresnan on one in England’s 226 for six. In doing so Pietersen passed Geoff Boycott as the fourth all-time England run-getter.
“I think he’s outstanding,” said teammate Ian Bell. “The number of games he’s won us in the past, there’s not many cricketers like him in world cricket.
“If you wanted one guy to go out there in the middle to try to get us up to a competitive score, it would be KP.”
The subdued Pietersen had some luck along the way and denied the impressive Ryan Harris both times, as England were pinned down by a disciplined Australian bowling attack on a slow scoring day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Pietersen had some good fortune on six when he was caught by Nathan Coulter-Nile at deep backward square leg off Ryan Harris. But Coulter-Nile was unable to stay within the field of play in taking the catch, staggering over the boundary marker, and Pietersen was awarded a six instead.
He had a second ‘life’ on 41 when George Bailey had two goes in a fumbling attempt at a catch off Harris at mid-wicket.
“We know if we bowl like we did today [Wednesday] we’re going to have days like that, where they’re not going to score many runs,” said Harris. “We’re putting so much pressure on them and they’re not scoring.”
The Australians’ tight bowling line restricted the English scoring and extracted the wickets of opener Michael Carberry and Joe Root in the middle session.
Australian captain Michael Clarke – with an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series and the Ashes already recovered – won the toss and sent the tourists in to bat under overcast skies.
England dropped vice-captain Prior and named Bairstow wicketkeeper, while Monty Panesar was chosen as the specialist spinner following the shock mid-series retirement of Graeme Swann. In contrast, Australia named an unchanged side for the fourth consecutive Test.
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