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Just slightly, ever so slightly, a few Australians will be feeling sorry for Kevin Pietersen.
It’s not easy seeing such a confident (some may say arrogant, but I’ll refrain) athlete torn apart by those who he sees as inferior, but on this tour, England’s explosive middle order run-machine has been more of a fizzle.
And what a fizzle. In six innings in the series thus far, good ol’ KP has scored a measly total of 165 runs, at an average of 27.5.
That’s not good, but it is forgivable. What’s not forgivable is the manner in which he is getting out.
In the six innings in which he has scored those runs, Pietersen has fallen – nay, walked – into Michael Clarke’s trap on almost every occasion.
In Brisbane he chipped to mid-wicket and scooped to fine leg.
In Adelaide he chipped to mid-wicket again and then chopped one on to off stump (we’ll call that one bad luck), and in Perth he tried to wallop Peter Siddle over mid on with a pull which landed in the elastic fingers on Mitchell Johnson.
He then tried to bring up a half-century by smashing Nathan Lyon into the long on boundary, where Ryan Harris took two steps forward to take the catch.
These are not the shots of a man that finished his last tour of Australia with 360 runs at an average of 60.
These are the shots of a man who is out of form and can’t control his own game.
Kevin Pietersen has thrown his wicket away on occasions where his side needed him to occupy the crease. It is painstakingly clear that crease occupation is not his favourite role, but with 101 Test matches and 8,000 runs under his belt, it is surely something he has been able to grasp by now.
But you’d be forgiven for thinking not, and as a result, the man who tore the urn from Australia at the Oval in 2005 is now a great likelihood of losing his spot in his adopted nation’s Test team.
England, assuming they will lose in Perth today, will need to make changes for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.
They need to because their current choices are being demolished in every department and they need to stop that, and also because they need to be seen to be looking towards the future.
Kevin Pietersen is not the future of English Cricket. At 33, if this isn’t his last Ashes series, his next one will be.
His rash shots will have angered his team mates and coaches, leaving them without much incentive to employ his services for the remainder of the series.
The other issue that may arise with England’s failings is the dressing room atmosphere.
It was not that long ago the South Africans humbled the Brits at home and the fallout was a spectacularly public feud between KP and the rest of the English set up.
It took the promotion of Alastair Cook to captain to end the ongoing brouhaha.
So what should England do?
Dropping Kevin Pietersen would have to be one of the toughest calls a coach or a captain can make, but in this situation, it may be necessary.
He has let his team down with poor shots and few runs, and has allowed the Australian bowlers to get on top of him, not least Siddle, who has dismissed him 10 times.
Kevin Pietersen is a big game player, but he has failed in three huge games that made up England’s Ashes defence. Perhaps it’s time England dismiss him before Australia do.
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