Pietersen losing battle within

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DEEP within the Ashes war on Saturday there was another rugged battle ... Kevin Pietersen versus Kevin Pietersen.

Pietersen's 19 off 59 balls was a tense, awkward struggle of a man fighting to put a muzzle on the tiger stirring within.

It was hubris versus humility and hubris, as it so often does, had the final say when, after 20 overs of robust defiance, Pietersen took a golf swing at a short ball outside off stump from Peter Siddle and holed out to an outstretched Mitchell Johnson at mid-on.

As Johnson got both hands on the ball and Siddle got his man for the 10th time in Tests, Australia put one hand on the Ashes.

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Pietersen walked off a shattered man in full knowledge that the Ashes are slowly slipping out of reach and he has been unable to turn the tide.

With just 120 runs at 24 he has been unable to deliver neither consistency nor the mammoth innings he often produces once a series against Australia.

The greatness of his career was spotlighted during his innings when he became the fifth Englishman to reach 8000 Test runs.

Significantly, he was the youngest and quickest to get there, joining Graham Gooch, Alec Stewart, Mike Gatting and David Gower.

Kevin Pietersen walks off the field as the Aussies celebrate. Pic: Theron Kirkman Source: AP

The joy of watching this great showman, for all his foibles, is that you are never sure of what you are going to get.

Saturday was a great challenge for him because after a week of people questioning his desire for Test cricket he could not come out and play recklessly.

The trouble was he was so determined not to play recklessly that he became bogged down against some high class Australian bowling.

Never before has he taken as long as 15 balls to get off the mark. His first four runs took 40 balls.

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He swatted a smoking cover drive off Johnson but there was no sense of rhythm about his innings.

There has been a lot of ingredients in Australia's Ashes domination and near the top of the list has been the success of Operation Anderson.

The blunting of crafty English seamer Jimmy Anderson has been like taking down the first enemy bayonet spotted advancing from a distance for he is the man who many follow.

If you knew Anderson was going to be reduced to starvation rations you could have had a sizeable bet that Australia would win the Ashes.

And so it has proved.

This series he has dined at the poors man's table - just seven wickets at 43 apiece.

For the moment Stuart Broad is the spiritual leader of the England attack with 14 wickets at 25 for the series.

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For reasons no-one can really explain, Anderson, like most of the bowlers in this series, have been toiling without one key weapon - swing.

The Kookaburra ball in Australia does not swing as much as the Duke used in England and this series has given even less than expected.

There was so little movement on the first day of the third Test in Perth that the entire day went without an lbw appeal which was also a sign that England had their line and length wrong.

Part of the story of Anderson's tour is that he has also been England's most economical bowler and the only one to go for less than three runs per over.

Australia has beaten Graeme Swann by attacking him. They have nullified Anderson, partially, by respecting his best work.

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You wouldn't quite say they have sat on him but there is no doubt Australia has been happy to absorb his finest work without feeling the need to counter attack with relish.

This has been a smart tactic and it has worked well because it has created the impression Anderson has bowled poorly which he hasn't.

Pressure rises quickly on frontline players expected to move mountains and Anderson candidly confessed to England bowling coach David Saker before the Test "I need some wickets."

Cricketers have long memories.

Scars gained early in their careers often take a long time to heal.

When Anderson was a 24-year-old rookie he came to Australia in 2006-07 and had a dreaful tour, taking five wickets at 84 in three Tests as Australia stormed to a 5-0 win .

Some say his hostile sledging towards Australia in recent series is a reaction to those bitter early memories when his dejected body language seemed to be a mirror into a tortured soul.

He has transformed himself from an insecure, inconsistent youngster into a world class force but he may have lost a metre of pace in recent times and when you are only fast medium in the first place that can be telling.

England's bowling plans this summer have been ripped apart.

The destruction of Swann has hurt them, the theory that beanstork fast bowlers would "put Australia on the stepladder" never got off the ground because their tall timber of Boyd Rankin, Chris Tremlett and Steve Finn just didn't fire.

Indian great Rahul Dravid once said to beat Australia you need eight players in form. England have one - Stuart Broad and that was never going to be enough.

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