Srinagar: Former England batter Kevin Pietersen has given hos brutal take on England pace attack during first Ashes 2023 Test vs Australia.
Pietersen has said that he means no disrespect but this England pace attack is not a Mitchell Johnson or Shoaib Akhtar when it comes to pace.
Pietersen feels if there is anyone who could create a similar impact then it would be Mark Wood, who is not part of the Edgbaston Test.
The former all-rounder made the observation while discussing Travis Head’s problems in dealing with the short deliveries.
“There’s a reason why the bowlers targeted in there (short deliveries) because we do feel, well everybody feels he (Travis Head) has an issue. And I don’t mean to be disrespectful at all to the single bowling lineup but they’re (England pacers) not to be feared. And I’ll say that from a pace wise perspective where you’ve got guys bowling at 80 mile an hour, 83 mile an hour. You don’t have Mitchell Johnson running in at 95 or Shoaib Akhtar, or even Woody (Mark Wood). Woody will run in and he will test you?”
“So you need to have your wits about you when it comes to that instinctive way of playing. Whereas against (Stuart) Broad at 82-83 and (Ollie) Robinson at 80-82. I’m sorry the way that he played it wasn’t as good as he should be playing it and absolutely no way. So it’s a problem and when you get targeted with a short ball, it rocks your foundations as a batter,” said Pietersen during an interaction on Sky Sports.
He justified his statement by citing the example of his former colleague Jonathan Trott, who faced a similar problem during his playing days.
“I remember that with Jonathan Trott, when Jonathan went through that period batting a three with us and everybody started to go short to him, it really rocked his foundations as a batter. So it’s an issue for Head,” he added.