Kevin Pietersen accuses England of believing their own hype in brutal criticism
With the fallout of Lord's set to roll into Thursday's third Test at Headingley, Kevin Pietersen is continuing to get himself heard.
However, unlike the vast majority of cricket fans and pundits right now, the primary focus of KP is not on the controversial run out of Jonny Bairstow. Instead, his anger is directed towards the England team for their performances thus far in the Ashes series, with Ben Stokes and co arriving at Leeds in a do or die situation.
Narrows defeats at both Edgbaston and Lord's have left the hosts 2-0 in the series, now needing nothing less than three straight wins to regain the urn. And inevitably, the Bazball style credited for bringing so much initial success under Brendan McCullum is under intense scrutiny.
Not least of all from former England batsman Pietersen, who vociferously criticised their display on the opening day at Lord's whilst working for Sky Sports. And in light of their 43-run defeat, he's called for the side to start backing up their attitude with performance.
"If you're going to talk the talk, you have to walk the walk, and this England cricket team isn't walking the walk," he wrote, in his column for Betway. "They’re acting like they're the greatest team around, but they’re currently on course to be the first England team to lose at home to Australia since 2001.
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"After the first Test match, Ollie Robinson said that they felt like they won the game, Jimmy Anderson was complaining that the wicket was like kryptonite, and then you've got Zak Crawley saying they’re going to win the next one by 150 runs. Leading into Headingley, all of this need to stop. The pressure that they're putting themselves under by speaking that way and using that language is unnecessary. It's not helping in any way, shape, or form."
Kevin Pietersen has laid into England (Twitter/@SkyCricket)HAVE YOUR SAY! Are Kevin Pietersen's view son England correct? Comment below.
The comments may be deemed ironic, given Pietersen was widely considered egotistical during his own playing days. However, he argued that he was always prepared to back up his boasts: "I said a lot of things in my career, and I put myself under a lot of pressure, but I was able to walk the walk," he added.
Pietersen, 43, also accused the current crop for being too laidback and friendly with the opposition, despite being engrossed in his own scandal in 2012 when he admitted to exchanging test messages with South African players. But he continued that line of attack, calling for a more ruthless approach this week.
"I don't see the mongrel in the England cricket team," he said. "There's so much relaxed talk. It's like, 'Hey, this is the coolest environment, we're having the best time ever.' Unfortunately, all that matters is winning."
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