Pietersen plunders as Aussies blunder

England’s Kevin Pietersen runs to the Balmy Army on the hill in celebration after making his double century on the third day of the second Ashes test at the Adelaide Oval, Sydney, Sunday, Dec. 5, 2010.(AAP Image/Dean Lewins)

This Ashes series just goes from bad to worse for Australians, with Kevin Pietersen back to his dominating, arrogant best on Day 3 here at the Adelaide Oval.

Pietersen belted his way to 213 not out from just 278 balls, his first Test century in more than 18 months, and England reached 4/551 as the heavens opened during the tea break, bringing a premature end to the day’s procession.

It remains to be seen whether England would dare declare on the same tally that brought them undone here in 2006, or if they bat on and really take the match away from Australia.

The weather may yet play more of a role in the outcome of this second Test, with showers forecast again for Day 4, and heavy rain likely on Day 5.

Weather was the only thing likely to stop Pietersen though, as he drove, pulled, and swatted his way to his second Test double hundred. He will start the fourth day needing just 14 more runs to set a new career best.

This innings was Pietersen at his full pomp. Whatever the Australian bowlers served up, Pietersen dealt with it accordingly, sometimes with outright contempt.

At one point, Peter Siddle continued to deliver half-tracker after half-tracker and Pietersen milked runs at will through the onside. Then, with a field change made to put three men back on the fence between fine and square leg, Pietersen pulled successive deliveries through gaps for fun.

Later, Doug Bollinger was bowling reasonably well to a heavy-set offside field, only to have Pietersen walk across his stumps to whip through midwicket.

While Pietersen plundered, the Aussie bowlers could only blunder. Anything too short – and there was a lot of it – was savagely pulled, hooked, or even hoicked behind or in front of square.

Anything even remotely full was driven at will, with Pietersen’s driving on the up a particular joy to watch.

Xavier Doherty rarely threatened, but on the one occasion when he looked to have slightly beaten Pietersen in flight, the big South African from Chelsea was able to adjust his shot and deposit Doherty over the northern fence for a rather big six.

For Pietersen, this was a rewarding innings of redemption and for the work he’d put in during the lead-up to The Ashes series.

After play, he spoke of not so much being frustrated of the run over the last year and a bit without a Test hundred, but rather of the high standards he sets for himself. He did add, though, that this innings has been a nice reminder of why he plays the game, and why he enjoys playing in the big contests against the best players in the world.

In saying England’s “…plans have not been helped by the rain” Pietersen may have been hinting at a late afternoon declaration, but he was also quick to say the team will reassess where they are and do whatever they feel they need to do to try and win this Test match. If achieved, that would take them a long way to being the first English side to retain the Ashes in Australia in more than 20 years.

He mentioned the time he spent in South Africa prior to coming to Australia, and that working again with his junior coach, Graham Ford, was able to get his game back on track.

“He knows me, he’s known me since I was 6 or 7 years old, and the two or three little things we’ve worked on in South Africa have got me back to where I am.”

Ominously, Ford said back in September that “…if he gets his form back, the Aussies better watch out.”

After swatting aside a strange question of whether he was the outcast of the England side, the hollering and yelping from the new visitors’ change rooms as Pietersen returned from the press conference showed that the man is very much feeling the love again. And a comfortable and confident Kevin Pietersen can only spell bad news for the rest of the Ashes series.

For the Australians, Shane Watson was quite circumspect about the side’s chances, admitting, “We’ll have to bat unbelievably well from here to save the match.”

Asked how Australia would approach the fourth day, Watson suggested rather obviously at first, “if we’re bowling we need to take some wickets.”

“But then if we’re batting, we just need to keep it simple and get through that first little period, and then that first session. And then we just need to bat for as long as we can.”

Indeed they do.

Australia has been taught a fairly major lesson in how and where not to bowl in this Test, but at the same time, they’ve squandered some pretty decent batting conditions as well.

The prospect of batting for up to two days will be daunting enough, but the Australians will also have noticed the turn Marcus North’s gentle off-breaks were getting, and would know that batting for two days will mean repelling Graeme Swann. Again.

But, if they have any ambitions of winning back the Urn, then repel Swann they must. And Jimmy Anderson. And Broad and Finn.

The batting over the next two days for Australia needs to be from the top draw. There can be no bad run outs, no loose but ambitious wafts outside off stump, and certainly no trying to run the ball off the face to give first slip catching practice.

In short, the blundering must stop now. The Ashes damn near depends on it.