Kevin Pietersen      

Kevin Pietersen's career has verged on the extraordinary at every turn. From shunning the South African quota system, to returning to his homeland with three ODI centuries and securing the Ashes with his maiden Test ton. All that came within his first year as an England player, but that was just the start. He quickly became the team's best batsman, and a leading light in world cricket, consistently dominating attacks. His transition from interloper to full Englishmen appeared to be complete when he accepted the England captaincy following Michael Vaughan's resignation and began with a string of wins against South Africa. But his reign lasted barely five months and early in 2009 he resigned after a very public row over ...

Kevin Pietersen's career has verged on the extraordinary at every turn. From shunning the South African quota system, to returning to his homeland with three ODI centuries and securing the Ashes with his maiden Test ton. All that came within his first year as an England player, but that was just the start. He quickly became the team's best batsman, and a leading light in world cricket, consistently dominating attacks. His transition from interloper to full Englishmen appeared to be complete when he accepted the England captaincy following Michael Vaughan's resignation and began with a string of wins against South Africa. But his reign lasted barely five months and early in 2009 he resigned after a very public row over the suitability of Peter Moores as coach. People came to expect the mind-boggling from KP, but this caught everyone off guard.

After a quiet debut against Zimbabwe he was thrown in during the one-dayers against South Africa in 2005. Undeterred by hostile receptions from the home crowds, he announced his arrival - loudly, of course - with three centuries in five innings, and in doing so demonstrated his peerless eye for the ball and for making headlines, too. On reaching his maiden ton in the second ODI at Bloemfontein, he kissed his badge with unreserved fervour and afterwards announced his next ambition: getting a tattoo of three lions and his England number. By the end of the series a crowd which had turned their backs on Pietersen stood and applauded him.

Overlooked for two Tests against Bangladesh, he made his Test debut against Australia at Lord's of all places, and responded with a pair of hard-hitting fifties in a losing cause. Six dropped catches in the series appeared to have dented his brash confidence, but with the series at stake, he once again showed his unswerving eye for the limelight by clubbing a phenomenal 158 on the final day at The Oval, to secure the draw that England needed for a first Ashes triumph in 18 years. First to congratulate him on his feat was Shane Warne, his good friend and captain at Hampshire, whom Pietersen had joined at the start of the season after three eventful and fractious years at Nottinghamshire.

A hallmark of Pietersen's batting is the complete confidence he has in his own ability, best emphasised by a remarkable reverse-sweep for six off Muttiah Muralitharan at Edgbaston, which in the following years would develop into the switch-hit that would become the batsman's latest attacking option. He didn't feel any bowler could tie him down, and largely his results supported that bold statement.

England's 5-0 Ashes whitewash and subsequent World Cup failing hurt Pietersen as much as anyone although yet more centuries confirmed his advance towards the highest echelon of world batting. His dominance continued against West Indies with a majestic 226 at Headingley - finally beating his previous 158, a score he had made three times previously. It was the highest score by an England batsman since Graham Gooch's 333, and his march towards greatness continued.

When a dip in 2007-08 threatened to turn into a trough he bounced back with vital centuries, including a backs-to-the-wall 129 in Napier after England had been reduced to 4 for 3, and another at Trent Bridge the following summer. Those, though, were just the prelude to the innings that he had most craved - a hundred at Lord's in his first Test appearance against his native South Africa, a performance which quashed once and for all the lingering doubts about his switch of allegiance. After a rapturous reception from the Lord's crowd, he later declared he had never felt "so loved".

Just a few weeks later and he had completed his extraordinary journey from naturalised Englishman to England's captain when he took over from Vaughan who announced his retirement just after the third Test against South Africa. As he prepared to lead them in all three forms of the game, Pietersen declared: "I'm going to do it my way," and from the very start he was true to his word: a century and a victory in his maiden Test in charge at The Oval, followed by a thumping 4-0 victory in the subsequent ODI series. His standing rose, too, with his handling of the Mumbai terror attacks, but while his tenure was never going to be dull, few expected it to be so short and dramatic. After criticising Moores following a tough tour of India, forcing the ECB to call an emergency meeting, he resigned from his post, leaving English cricket in crisis.

Pietersen, though, came back strongly with a 97 in his first innings under new captain Andrew Strauss in the West Indies, and his status as one of the game's biggest players was confirmed with a US$1.55 million annual IPL contract, the most expensive along with team-mate Andrew Flintoff. But his initial foray with the Royal Challengers Bangalore was a disappointment, and a long-standing Achilles injury undermined his effectiveness. After grimacing his way through the early part of the summer, Pietersen took the plunge and underwent surgery only hours after England's victory over Australia in the second Ashes Test at Lord's. His rehabiliation kept him sidelined for the rest of the summer. After four months out of the game he returned to the country of birth for England's tour. With much expected of him, Pietersen endured a torrid tour. Having compiled a chanceless 81 in the first Test of the series at Centurion he senselessly ran himself out with a century in sight. He didn't recover his composure and finished the four Test's with 177 runs at 25.28.
Cricinfo staff January 2010

March 6, 1998
A gentle offspinner makes his debut
• Pietersen makes his first-class debut for Natal 'B' against Easterns at Kingsmead aged just 17. Regarded primarily as an offspinner and lower-order batsman at this stage of his career, Pietersen took one wicket in the match and, batting at no.8, made an unbeaten three in his only innings.
  
December 1999
Graeme Swann, 10 years earlier
• Impresses members of the touring England side, including Nasser Hussain, during an England XI warm-up match against KwaZulu-Natal at Kingsmead, clearing the boundary four times on his way to an unbeaten 57-ball 61. He also picks up four top-order wickets with his handy offspin.
  
October 2000
Mother's love
• Signs a three-year contract with Nottinghamshire in the year he turns 20. Pietersen, who has a British passport courtesy of his English mother, tells a South African newspaper "I'm not turning my back on South African cricket", but eventually decides to throw in his lot with Nottinghamshire, saying that the "guarantee of three years of high-quality cricket" with Nottinghamshire was "a career opportunity too good to turn down." Clive Rice, the former South African captain who was Nottinghamshire's director of cricket, said at the time that the move would be in his best interests and enable him to escape the quota systems and "non-merit selections." Rice adds that "there's just something about him and I believe a move to England will be just the thing to bring his real talents to fruition."
  
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April 21, 2001
Start as you mean to go on
• Pietersen cracks his maiden first-class hundred on debut for Nottinghamshire against Loughborough UCCE at Trent Bridge. It is a typically bellicose knock, with Pietersen reaching 122 from 147 balls, with three sixes, before being stumped.
  
April to September, 2001
A star ascends
• Pietersen powers his way to 1275 first-class runs at 57.95 in his first season for Nottinghamshire. The highlight of the season is his unbeaten double-hundred against Derbyshire.
  
April to September, 2002
Second season blues
• Pietersen's second season of English domestic cricket, proves to be less fruitful than the first, but he still manages 737 runs in 10 County Championship games and two hundreds in the Norwich Union League. His unbeaten 254 against Middlesex earns widespread acclaim, and he follows that up with 122 in a Norwich Union League game against Somerset, and a championship hundred against Gloucestershire at Trent Bridge, to storm to three hundreds in as many games.
  
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February to March 2004
Man among boys
• Tours India with England A and despite the visitors losing every match Pietersen's reputation towers, as he finishes with three centuries in six innings at 104.60 from the first-class games and 50.66 from the three-match ODI series against India A, including a 122-ball 131 in the second game.
  
October 2004
Heave-ho and time to go
• After another successful county season, and one month from qualifying to play for England, Pietersen's bristling intent on making it at the highest level sees him leave Nottinghamshire to join Shane Warne's Hampshire in Division One. Jason Gallian, the Nottinghamshire captain, declares 'if he does not want to play for Notts he can f*** off', before allegedly throwing Pietersen's kit over the player's balcony at Trent Bridge.
  
November 28, 2004
Calm before the storm
• Having served his four-year qualification period Pietersen is immediately called up to make his debut against Zimbabwe. He starts quietly with 27 from 57 balls to guide England to the first of four easy victories.
  
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January to February 2005
Homecoming king
• Pietersen arrives back to the country of his birth swinging from the hip. He has a pop at the South African system, the South African captain but most memorably, the South African bowlers. Boos turned to gasps, as the home crowd were treated 108*, 75, 100 from 69 balls and 116 as Pietersen ends the seven-match series with 473 runs. Confirms his unwavering 'Englishness' by unreservedly pashing the England crest on his helmet upon reaching his first hundred before emblazoning his shoulder with a giant three-lions tattoo. English cricket finally unearths the gem that Graeme Hick was supposed to have been 13 years before.
  
June 19, 2005
A statement of intent
• With anticipation ahead of the 2005 Ashes building into a crescendo unseen in English cricket for decades, Pietersen took his omission from the Test's against Bangladesh on the chin and announced himself to home crowds with a dazzling 91 from 65 deliveries to power England to victory in the first ODI against Australia of the summer in Bristol. His composure and relish for big-match pressure became a feature of the summer.
  
July 21, 2005
Starting with style
• In a frantic opening Test at Lord's, Pietersen silenced any suspicions that his destructive approach would come unstuck with a pair of fifties as Australia beat England. Fourth England player to top-score in both innings on debut.
  
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September 12, 2005
Counter attack
• With England needing a draw to secure the Ashes at the Oval, Pietersen arrives at the crease with England only four wickets down with a slender 115 lead. Dropped twice before he reached double figures and shaken by a vicious bouncer attack from Brett Lee before lunch, Pietersen sauntered in after the break and smashed the bowling all round south London. He hurtled to 158, making the game and the series safe for England and taking the man-of-the-match award.
  
October 2005
One to watch
• After less than a year in international cricket, Pietersen is named ICC One-day player of the year and ICC Emerging player of the year.
  
May 2006
Three in a row
• Scores 158 at Lord's against Sri Lanka in the first Test of the summer and follows it up with 142 in the next Test at Edgbaston, which including his 158 against Australia to close of the 2005 summer makes him the first England player since Graham Gooch to make hundreds in three consecutive innings. Enters the top ten in the world rankings.
  
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November 2006 to April 2007
A class apart
• The wheels come off for England as they are demolished 5-nil by the Ricky Ponting's revenge-filled Australians before being dumped out of the World Cup in the Super-eight stage. Pietersen is the only player to impress for England, but the responsibility of shoring up a brittle batting line up blunts his flamboyant strokeplay as he settles for clinical run getting. His 158 in the first innings at Adelaide and 104 against the same side at in the World Cup confirm his status as the England's best player.
  
May 2007
Ruthless run making
• Welcomes West Indies with a 109 in a run-glut draw in the first Test at Lord's before following it with a double hundred in the second Test at Headingley.
  
December to March 2008
Baron Spell
• Goes 10 Test innings without a 50 as England struggle in Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
  
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March 22, 2008
Back with a bang
• In the crucial deciding Test against New Zealand at Napier, England were staring down the barrel when Pietersen came to the crease at 4 for 2. While he tried to bed himself in England collapsed to 36 for four. However, with a patience rarely apparent in his approach he cajoled to lower order to take England to 253, finishing on 129 from 208 deliveries.
  
July 10, 2008
Crowd favourite
• Having left the country of his birth to play for England, before returning to South Africa to rip their attack apart to announce himself on the world stage, the touring South Africans had a clear target for their big pace line-up to aim at. Yet in his first Test against them, at Lord's he strokes his way to 152. The extended ovation he received up on reaching the milestone moved him to declare "I've never felt so loved".
  
August 4, 2008
Captain fantastic
• After Michael Vaughan's tearful farewell, Pietersen is appointed England captain. The man to lead in all formats, he settles murmurs that the responsibility may affect his batting by scoring a century in his first Test in charge at the Oval. Goes on to lead England to a 4-0 rout of South Africa in the one-day series.
  
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December 2008
Admiration in adversity
• The tumultuous events that soon followed have brushed over how well Pietersen rallied his men in after the Mumbai atrocity. A limited England team were being thrashed by India in the one-day leg of thier tour before the murders rocked India and sent England home. However, the returned under Pietersen and looked in line to pull-off a remarkable surprise in the first Test Chennai. However Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar intervened and England lost the series. Pietersen felt he was not given the support he needed from coach Peter Moores.
  
December 31, 2008
Mission aborted
• Having been asked by the ECB to fulfil his 'end-of-term report' at the conclusion of the India tour, news breaks on new year's eve, that Pietersen wants Moores removed as coach, telling his bosses: "I can't lead this team forward and take it to the West Indies if Peter Moores is coach." The bold move backfires as the ECB publicise the entire debacle - seemingly sharing Pietersen's assessment by firing Moores before 'accepting' a resignation from Pietersen which he insists he never made.
  
February 2009
Back in the ranks
• With question marks surrounding Pietersen in the first Test since the conclusion on his brief captaincy stint, he responds with 97 against in the first innings against West Indies at Kingstown but a rash shot to get out, followed by England's second-innings collapse leaves many frustrated.
  
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April 10, 2009
'Dumbslog millionaire'
• Becomes, along with England team-mate and rival Andrew Flintoff, the IPL's most expensive player, signing for Royal Chargers Bangalore for $1.55 million. Has a disappointing tournament and worsens long-standing Achilles injury.
  
July 8, 2009
It's the way I play
• Looking well-set on 69 in the first-Test of the 2009 Ashes at Cardiff Pietersen attempts an awkward and senseless sweeps shot against Nathan Hauritz and is caught behind. His dismissal opens the door for Australia to charge through and dominate. He defends the shot insisting it's just the he plays.
  
July 22, 2009
Limps out of the limelight
• Fails to make an impression on one of cricket's biggest stages - the Ashes Test at Lord's and the Achilles injury rules him out of the rest of the summer as he heads for the operating table.
  
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November 2009 to January 2010
Nightmare return
• Having waited his entire career to play a Test in the country of his birth, Pietersen has endures a torrid tour to South Africa. Looking uncharacteristically tense at the crease the runs dry up following a hideous run out in the first Test at Centurion for 81. Ends the series with 177 runs at 25.28.
  
Liam Brickhill and Sahil Dutta January 2010

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