Smith at Pietersen’s throat – again

Kevin Pietersen or KP as fans and the media often call him has never been on Graeme Smith’s Christmas card list and the South African captain should also not expect a call from the England batsman on his 30th birthday in February 2011. The battle rages on to this day as KP is heading back to the country of his birth in an attempt to rediscover his form, writes Fanie Heyns.

Smith told Super Cricket years ago: “I’m patriotic about my country, and that’s why I don’t like Kevin Pietersen. The only reason that Kevin and I have never had a relationship is because he slated South Africa. It was his decision to leave and that’s fine, but why does he spend so much time slating our country.”

Pietersen left South Africa after becoming disillusioned with the quota selection policy. KP and his father, Jannie, had a meeting with the managing director of the United Cricket Board of South Africa at that time, Dr Ali Bacher, aranged as a last resort by Shaun Pollock and other members of the Dolphins team, hoping that Dr Bacher could convince Pietersen to stay in South Africa.

After his decision to leave the country of his birth  to ply his trade with his considerable talent in England, KP returned in 2005 as an England player, smashing three One Day Internationals in his first series against the Proteas.

KP reacted with disdain to the verbal assault by Smith and some members of the public and called Smith an “absolute muppet”.

Now KP has agreed to play two matches for the Dolphins in October in an effort to regain his form prior to the Ashes series against Australia.

Pietersen has had a lean trot of late, only scoring one first-class century since March 2009. He was recently dropped by the English selectors for the limited overs series against Pakistan.

Last week Smith fired a new salvo in the never-ending war of words between the two arch-rivals, saying he does not really understand what value KP would add to the Dolphins in such a short space of time.

Perhaps Smith, one of South Africa’s finest-ever opening batsmen, needs some perspective.

Pietersen has scored 16 centuries in 62 tests and averages 49.20 with the bat, while his average in 104 One-Day Internationals is 42.17. He was the fastest batsman to 5000 test runs, has been a Wisden-cricketer of the year and the recipient of an MBE honour for his contribution to the Ashes triumph against Australia in 2005.

Sure many South Africans love to hate KP because they view him as a ‘traitor.’ But Smith and those who are vehemently opposed to KP need a dose of reality.

Smith’s view that KP is taking the place of a local player for those two weeks is off the mark, as at least three Dolphins, Hashim Amla, David Miller and Loots Bosman, could possibly do duty for the Proteas against Zimbabwe during the first three weeks of October.

Furthermore, many test cricketers from other countries who visited South Africa have had an enormous impact on the development of local stars.

Two excellent examples are Desmond Haynes and Malcolm Marshall. Haynes played a pivotal role in shaping the careers of HD Ackerman, Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis. Their evolution to test cricketers was no doubt aided by the presence of Duncan Fletcher as coach of Western Province.

But the role of Haynes, former opener of the West Indian Islands, and his presence in the dressing room at Newlands surely was a factor.

Shaun Pollock and Lance Klusener both paid tribute to Marshall and saluted him for assisting them to become mature provincial and later test cricketers. Would Polly have taken more than 400 test wickets and more than 300 One-Day wickets at international level if the former fast bowler of the Windies was not a backroom boy and fellow team-mate at Kingsmead? Possibly not.

Many observers would argue that two or three seasons by Marshall and Haynes could make a difference, but two weeks cannot change things.

Perhaps these observers simply dislike KP and are aware of his nickname of Figjam -- Face it, I’m good, Just ask me.

The truth is that an experienced cricketer like Pietersen could add enormous value to the dressing room at Kingsmead and could assist cricketers technically if they had the insight to ask him.

Bob Woolmer, former coach of South Africa, once made a very slight change to the batting grip of Jonty Rhodes. Within weeks Rhodes stepped onto the hallowed turf at Lord’s and scored a memorable century against England. It was because of one simple change by Woolmer.

Two weeks could make an enormous difference to some of the Dolphins batsmen if they are prepared to ask KP for his advice. His vast experience, his mind-set, his cricket awareness, his approach to batting and his dynamic attacking style could add enormous value to the Dolphins.

Graham Ford, a former coach of South Africa and current mentor of the Dolphins, said: “I think all of the players in the Dolphins team, and even the coaching staff, could benefit from KP’s presence.”

Amazingly, KP has decided to come to the Dolphins free of charge for two weeks.

Hopefully his presence could transform the cricketing career of some of South Africa’s finest batting prospects, like Imraan Khan and Ahmed Amla. But that will only happen if they have a different mind-set to that of Smith.