The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : `Australia is vulnerable'

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Friday, Mar 09, 2007
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`Australia is vulnerable'

KINGSTOWN (St. Vincent): Kevin Pietersen believes Australia could now be as vulnerable as England was in the wake of its 2005 Ashes series win because of injuries to key players.

Speaking before England's last World Cup warm-up match against Australia on Friday, Pietersen compared how under-strength England had been in its lean spell during 2006 with how Australia's standard had dropped in its recent losing run.

``We had our vulnerable times when we didn't have (Michael) Vaughan, (Marcus) Trescothick, Simon Jones and (Andrew) Flintoff,'' he said. ``That's when we got a lot stick and we weren't as competitive as we were the previous year.

Big players

``I saw that the Australians lost (Ricky) Ponting for the New Zealand series and Brett Lee is out. I think a team does become vulnerable when they lose big players.''

Andrew Symonds (biceps) and Hayden (broken toe) have already been ruled out of Friday's game at Arnos Vale while Lee had to withdraw from the tournament and was replaced by Stuart Clark in Australia's squad two weeks ago.

Pietersen batted well in the warm-up game against Bermuda in his first match for England since injuring his rib in December in Australia in a tri-series that also included New Zealand.

Two months later, England won the title without him after losing 10 straight games — including all five Ashes Tests — to Australia, which dropped a further three matches for its worst streak in ODIs since 1997.

That streak was ended with a thumping win over Zimbabwe on Tuesday, but Pietersen thinks that Australia's chances have been severely damaged by Lee's absence due to an injured ankle.

``It's a huge loss for Australia,'' Pietersen said. ``He's become one of their better bowlers, him and (Glenn) McGrath. That attack has become pretty phenomenal over the last couple of years. Lee has matured into one of the great fast bowlers.''

It was his effort to intimidate McGrath that resulted in Pietersen's broken rib.

Unusual step

Pietersen took the unusual step of advancing down the wicket at McGrath, who pitched the ball short and it struck him in the ribcage.

Despite the pain, the South Africa-born batsman will use the tactic again if he deems it suitable.

``If I figure that's the way I'm going to score off McGrath whenever we play them, then maybe,'' he said. ``I pick situations, I pick bowlers, I pick places I want to hit, scoring options — that's how I play.''

The 26-year-old Pietersen averages 56.50 in ODIs with three centuries and a high score of 116 since making his debut against Zimbabwe in November 2004.

``I'm not the sort of player to bat for 40-50 overs,'' Pietersen said. ``Ideally, I'd like to come in at around 15 overs, get my eye in, and then at about 35 overs — go. Try and get to 100 for one or two (wickets) and then launch from there.

``When the Australians were playing really well they would launch at about 35 overs, then they've got 15 overs for the likes of Andrew Symonds to come in and have a go.''

Asked if England could sustain the momentum from the Australian tri-series and win the World Cup, Pietersen was circumspect. ``The boys are confident, but cautious. We're now playing against all the best nations in the world.'' — AP

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