Allan Donald compares Kevin Pietersen with Brian Lara

Allan Donald compares Kevin Pietersen with Brian Lara

Former South African pacer Allan Donald has said that Kevin Pietersen played just like Brian Lara in the second Test at Headingley. England were in deep trouble, when Pietersen took over responsibility on his shoulders and fished the side out of the troubled
waters.

The aggressive batsman was on 149 not out, as England reached 351 for the loss of five wickets at the end of third day. The South Africa-born batsman smashed 22 boundaries and a huge six in his innings. The Englishmen are now only 68 runs behind South Africa’s
first innings score of 419.

Pietersen was the only successful batsman from England. Most of the batsmen took good start, but failed to capitalise. Andrew Strauss lost his wicket for 37, whereas Jonathan Trott scored 35 before returning to the pavilion. Matt Prior is currently at the
crease with 20 runs to his credit.

Heaping praise on Pietersen, Donald compared him with the great Brian Lara, saying that the 32-year-old played seriously well. At the end of the play, he shared:

"It reminds me of when I ran into Brian Lara, something in the category of a bit of a genius to play knocks like that. Today was against an unbelievable bowling attack that keeps coming at you and never gives in. To get runs against that attack is something
I will always cherish."

On Donald’s comments, Pietersen said: "Allan Donald was one of my heroes growing up, so that’s special. I’ve never batted better in my life. I got a big wake up call against Pakistan [in January and February].”

“I was a bit overweight, I wasn’t physically in as good a nick as I should have been and I averaged twelve and a half which really hurt, because I set myself high standards. I took it on the chin and I went and spent hours and hours with [England bowling
coach] Mushtaq [Ahmed]."

The Poms are currently 1-0 down in the three-match series. They need to get a handsome lead in the first innings to put the opposition under pressure, as England will have to stop South African from winning in order to keep the series alive.

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Posted by Rana Nasir Ghafoor on Aug 5 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry