Leeds, Sep 25 (IANS) Former captain Kevin Pietersen has revealed that he is in talks with England Test coach Stephen Fleming regarding a potential mentoring role with the red-ball setup ahead of next year’s Ashes, though a full-time commitment remains out of the question due to his ‘mad schedule’.
Pietersen, who recently returned to the England fold as a short-term white-ball mentor under head coach Brendon McCullum till next year’s 50-over World Cup in South Africa, said he has already held initial discussions with Fleming about working with the Test batters.
”I have had a conversation with Stephen Fleming, but I don’t think that necessarily means that I need to be in a dressing-room. There’s a lot of time in the lead-up to an Ashes series; there’s a lot of time in the lead-up to the tour of South Africa now, where I’m going to be with the Test batters in Australia, and there’s conversations that can be had there.
“Inside a tournament, I can’t do anything. There’s nothing I can do. But I’ve certainly had a conversation with Flem – who I absolutely love – about language that he would like me to use with the Test batters going into, say, South Africa, and then certainly into the summer next year. But I don’t think I can commit to a lot more time,” Pietersen was quoted as saying by Cricinfo on Friday, after Sri Lanka levelled the ODI series.
One of the key figures Pietersen aims to guide is white-ball captain Harry Brook, whose vast potential the former batter described as ‘frightening.’
”Where I can help him is situations, playing situations, because there was a lot of method in my madness when I played. There was a lot of strategy in the way that I approached batting.
“Yes, occasionally I got out to reckless shots and crazy shots in the 80s and 90s and stuff, but actually, there was a lot of structure to the way that I batted.”
”I’ve still got notes on my phone on how I played in T20 cricket, one-day cricket, Test match cricket, about hitting straight back at the stumps, techniques… That all-round structure is something I could potentially help him with, because he’s so flipping good. He’s a joke, how good he is. It’s actually frightening how good he is, and how good he can be,” he added.
Pietersen’s return to the England setup came as a surprise given the controversial end to his international career in 2014 and his past criticism of the team’s style of play. He admitted to being taken aback when McCullum first reached out to him last month.
”I thought I was in trouble. It took a couple of weeks of conversations with him to be able to convince me that it was something that I wanted to do, because the perception (that I had) wasn’t actually the reality that I now know of what’s downstairs in that dressing-room.
”I’m very, very happy that I did take up the role because it gives me a way, way, way happier perspective on where English cricket actually is. You’ve got a young bunch of guys here that are absolutely driven to be successful, and you’ve got Baz who is hellbent on making sure that we’re the fittest, strongest, most adaptable team, and he is on an absolute path to make sure that we are competitive next year,” he added.
Dismissing any lingering baggage from his playing days, Pietersen said, “I’m 46, man. That stuff’s so long gone. I’m a completely different person, too… I’m just here to help Brendon, first and foremost. I’m here to help the players try to become the best versions of themselves.”
Looking ahead to next year’s 50-over World Cup in South Africa, with England are currently ranked seventh in the ICC standings, Pietersen struck a realistic tone regarding the team’s prospects.
”It would be amazing if we can achieve success, but I’m not sitting here saying, ‘We want to win the World Cup.’ We want to be competitive next year in South Africa, and I think that’s the game.
”We’ve got a very successful T20 team. We know we’re not as successful in the one-day format, so over the next 12 months, we have to work our absolute backsides off, day and night, in every single country that we’re in to get better every single day,” he concluded.
–IANS
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