Monday, November 29, 1999

How inventors found winning touch

News posted by www.newsinfoline.com

The crystal blue waves provided a soothing background score to the joyous cries of the England team at the beachside here on Sunday evening. Passed from one team member to the next, like a baton, the World T20 trophy finally stopped at the hands of Kevin Pietersen, who blew a big kiss on the silverware.Rightly so, for Pietersen has been a one-man-army, standing tall against all opposition. A player of the series trophy and a medallion was an apt appreciation to his heroics with the bat, and the twist in his life.Having helped England win their first ICC trophy, the batsman reignited the IPL debate: for a nation debating hard about the birth and timing of its million-dollar baby, Pietersen gave full credit to the Twenty20 tournament. Away from the alleged murky deals, travel fatigue and late-night parties, came a clean, everyday story — of hard work, long hours at the nets, and vital match practice to regain form.And adding a drop of irony to Mahendra Singh Dhoni's one-more-net-session-can't-make-us-better statement before the humiliation against Australia, Pietersen's work ethic proves going back to the basics helps. Always.Net gain at netsComing into the Bangladesh tour and IPL, the England batsman had specific problems against left-arm spinners, but extra net sessions, he said, helped him gain confidence, and slip into the form of his career.Pietersen's lean patch saw him being dropped from the Royal Challengers Bangalore team during the IPL — the first time he was dropped from any side on form since he burst into the international scene in 2002.Result: he went that extra mile to return to a side that he had led last season, and won two man-of-the-match awards in the process.Stressing the importance of net sessions, Pietersen said, "There is no greater place to learn batting. I have spent hours and hours in Bangalore batting in the nets."In the IPL, he said, "I have had guys bowl at me for one-and-a-half hours. I worked as hard as I can because I was really disappointed with myself in the last 12 months. It's difficult to say how well I am batting at the moment but I am feeling good."All for one, one for allPietersen also acknowledged the help he received from skipper Paul Collingwood, his England teammates and support staff in rediscovering his form. "If it wasn't for the boys in the dressing room, the coaching staff and the management group in Bangladesh, probably I wouldn't have been batting the way I am doing," he said."The nights and the dinners I had with Colly (Collingwood) were (also) reassuring," he said. He said those sessions taught him how to approach the game after losing touch, especially while coming back from an injury."The player of the series is given to one player but if it wasn't for the team, I wouldn't be sitting here," Pietersen said.Closely monitoring the volcanic ash eruptions and flight disruptions to London, Pietersen admitted the winning feeling is yet to sink in. "It will sink in next week or so, when I get back to England and have my little boy see and hold it (the trophy)," he said, "but now it is about getting back with the teammates and celebrating."Pietersen had dashed back home for the birth of his son and returned in time for the semi-finals.Collingwood's pat for IPLThe England skipper also mentioned the gain from the IPL. "The IPL is a real positive experience for everyone," he said. "The things that you learn from it are more than what you do sitting at home. One of the things is the confidence you gain from the IPL — you get the confidence by just getting into the team because it is hard to get in those teams. It's obviously a world-class tournament."Calling Sunday's victory here "a special moment", Collingwood said: "The guys deserve everything they got — to be the first English team to win a World Cup is very special. It was a monkey riding on our backs and I knew what it meant. We played a brand of cricket unlike England in the past. We will enjoy it because we deserve to, but good teams kick on and that is what will get drilled into the guys."The world will be watching.

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