HEAD TO HEAD Kevin Pietersen - Cricketer RARING TO
For Kevin Pietersen the summer series with England has yet to really begin, restricted by a knee injury during England’s tour of New Zealand. Now rested up, rehabilitated and back to fi tness the mercurial batsman can’t wait for the Ashes to begin. Australia, you have been warned…
irstly, how’s the knee? Yeah it’s coming along pretty nicely thanks. Just following the
rehab programme and working hard in the gym
so all in all it’s gone about as well as it can.
Has the progress been pretty much as expected? The problem is that you can never really tell for certain until you start putting some strain through the knee, but so far it feels great.
Do you – or cricketers in general - have to alter the way you manage your fi tness as you get older? Make any changes to training, games played etc? There is a bit of that, yeah. You defi nitely get to know your body better as you get older and within the game there is more and more squad rotation, so players get rested if necessary. A lot of it depends on the individual as well, so if you play all three forms of the game then fi tness and rest are going to be more of an issue. Also, it depends on the position you play, so I think bowlers can burn out pretty easily if they’re not managed properly.
Did missing the Ashes ever look like a possibility?
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You just never know, anything is possible with an injury, so it defi nitely crosses your mind but thankfully it looks like that’s not going to be the case.
You must be getting pretty excited – do you feel fresher for having the time off in rehab, rather than playing against New Zealand? Maybe, there is no doubt I’m defi nitely rested up because I had my knee in a brace for the fi rst fi ve weeks after the injury happened, that’s the thing with injuries, you don’t get much say in the matter, you just have to rest and wait. That’s over now so I’ve been working on my fi tness, hitting balls and it all feels really good. It’s great to be at this stage and I am raring to go.
How does the build-up to the Ashes compare to previous Ashes series? Is there a difference at all? There’s not a massive difference, not really. It’s a big summer series, which we always have, so after New Zealand there was obviously the Champions Trophy in the middle, and then we head straight out to Australia for the winter after the Ashes here.
Shane Warne said if you miss the series Australia will win – what do you make of that? Is it just mind games?
Hahaha I don’t know about that! We have a great Test squad, whether I’m playing or not. Looks like there might be a few mind games starting but that’s all to be expected I suppose!
Have you enjoyed watching the likes of Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root come through and play? Yes, defi nitely. It is always good to see the next generation of younger players coming through and getting the experience that will set them up for international careers. Jonny and Joe have been excellent since they made the step up and they’re both top quality players.
How does playing under Alastair Cook compare to other captains,
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