“People hated it but that’s the way that I played” – Kevin Pietersen defends England's Bazball during 2nd Ashes Test

Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen has defended England’s Bazball style of cricket after they were bundled out for 325 in their first innings of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s in London on Friday, June 28.

The legendary English batter also took a dig at critics for calling the batters ‘brainless’, citing that even he used to play an aggressive brand of cricket during his illustrious career. The statement came as the likes of England captain Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Joe Root, Ollie Pope and Ben Duckett got out to short-length deliveries.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Kevin Pietersen said:

“So, that’s why I saw, ‘I can’t really answer this’ [question of England’s batting approach] because I know, there are a lot of people that have said, ‘Brainless batting’. I am going, ‘I was pretty brainless too'. People hated it but that’s the way that I played.”

He continued:

“When somebody is bowling at 90 miles an hour, you know this. It’s easy for a journalist to sit downstairs, who has never faced a cricket ball and start spraying, 'brainless this, brainless that'. 90 miles an hour, a delivery over your head, it rocks your foundation, it’s not comfortable and sometimes instinct takes over and sometimes, you just can’t help it.”

Kevin Pietersen defended English batters, and said that attack is the best form of defense.

“(On England’s short ball problem) I played the way that they played [Bazball] and I saw the best form of defense being attack. Every single time it happened it me, against Australia [in Ashes], with Morne Morkel at Leeds. Brett Lee in 2005, that’s when I started. When he bowled at the speed of light and certainly, I tried, defended one, it flew over Gully and I said, ‘I don’t think I can do this anymore.'”

It’s worth noting that Pietersen was the leading run-scorer of Ashes 2005 (473 in five Tests), when Michael Vaughan-led England won the series 2-1.

---

Kevin Pietersen points out England’s weakness in the 2nd Ashes Test

Kevin Pietersen reckoned that Australia had found out England’s weaknesses after they bowled a barrage of short deliveries in the second Test. The veteran said it’s tough to prepare against bowlers operating at 140+kmph. He said:

"Australia has done really well by adopting that method [short ball tactics].”

The cricketer-turned-commentator added:

“Who goes and does the hard stuff? Practices bouncers every single series with a bowling machine, 92-mile-an-hour bouncers, not many people do it. I did it for one series in 2006. I never did it again because it’s horrible, you hurt, get hit and it’s not nice.”

For the uninitiated, Australia secured a 91-run first-innings lead. They ended Day 3 on 130/2, stretching their lead to 221, with Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith at the crease.

Click here to follow the second Ashes Test live score updates.