KP 'almost envied' Ashes enemy

Kevin Pietersen has revealed how he “almost envied” the Australian team during last summer’s Ashes series because of the relaxed environment and tactical superiority that new coach Darren Lehmann brought to his job.

In his autobiography ‘KP’, Pietersen makes no effort to disguise the fractured relationship he developed with England’s Zimbabwe-born Team Director Andy Flower who he claims “built a regime, he didn’t build a team”.

The antipathy between the star batsman and the national coach was already deeply embedded when Alastair Cook’s team arrived in Brisbane for last summer’s opening Ashes Test.

In his book, Pietersen describes Flower – who led England to the top of the world Test rankings in 2011 but stood down from his role following the Ashes whitewash – as a “dreadful coach” whose “methods created an environment where people became terrified of failing”.

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The 34-year-old batsman, whose international career was also terminated in the wake of the Ashes disaster in Australia, drew a sharp distinction between the England dressing room and their rejuvenated rivals who had embraced Lehmann’s ‘play hard but enjoy the game’ philosophy.

“I looked at the Aussie set-up and I almost envied them. They had brought in Darren Lehmann,” Pietersen writes.

“Two quick points on Lehmann.

“First, Michael Vaughan (ex-England captain and Lehmann’s former Yorkshire teammate) … described him as 'a fun character who laughs all the time, likes a beer and just loves to talk cricket ... also one of the hardest cricketers I have ever met' and went on to say: 'His ability to make people view cricket as just a game is his strength.

“’He makes a player, even during pressurised situations, feel as if he is playing for his club side on a Saturday afternoon. He knows it is more important than that but he makes the player feel relaxed.

“’It is a refreshing mentality to have'

“Wow.

“Second, Lehmann actively encourages aggressive batting against spinners on the principle that 'There are no fielders in the car park.'

“Wow again. Are you reading this stuff Flower?

“Lehmann was big and very Australian, and he kept his players chilled.

“He was also out-thinking us the whole time.”

Pietersen cites the personnel and structural changes employed to reshape the Australian batting order from the preceding Ashes series in the UK that England won three-nil, and the fact they were able to utilise the same bowling attack in each of the five Tests in Australia.

And then there was the aggressive intent that was another hallmark of Lehmann’s leadership.

“The Australians settled on a line-up that saw every ball bowled by Swanny (off-spinner Graeme Swann) as a chance for a six,” Pietersen writes.

“No fielders in the car park.

“Among the bowlers, Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon earned their places in (the preceding series in) England, but Mitchell Johnson was used carefully and cleverly in (that UK) summer series.

“He didn't play the Tests, but they (Australia) let him loose in the more aggressive settings of the one-day games.

“There, he gave a glimpse of the shock and awe to come before going back under wraps.

“Then, in the meantime, the Australians got lads to bowl gently at us in the warm-up games and let us worry about Johnson until Brisbane. It worked.”

Pietersen has described elsewhere in his book the fear that Johnson was able to instil throughout the England dressing room when he unleashed in Brisbane.

Quick Single: England were scared of Mitch

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But he also documents how the strategic as well as philosophical differences between the two teams became starkly apparent to him.

And he once again lays the blame squarely at the feet of Flower, and cites the culture of bullying that he claims was perpetuated by the England bowlers for muddying the minds of the batsmen and, ultimately, the entire team.

“The Aussies had worked out what they were best at, and had a coach who saw the merits of his players and established a system that played to their strengths,” Pietersen says.

“We were all at sea.

“We were a mix of fear and fake cockiness, pretending to be up for a fight that we didn't have the weapons for.

“We had a dressing room in which the bowlers were allowed to cow to the batters.

“Flower was like a deer in the headlights.

“He hated the Aussie aggression.

“He had produced an ugly team who ground out wins by playing within our limits.

“Now guys who would normally be conservative were swiping at things madly.

“We didn't have any new ideas, and had also forgotten how to do the old things we were good at.

“My role had always been to bring a bit of adventure to the batting order, but now we were just a series of individuals trying to survive out on the field.

“Then we would go in and devour each other in the dressing room afterwards.”