Accepted wisdom suggests that when a sportsman is out of form, he finds fortune impossible to come by. Kevin Pietersen made a joke of that theory yesterday, as he snapped out of his fallow spell with an innings that was more charmed than a gypsy fortune-teller's psychic box. Remarkably, given his standing in the game, Pietersen's place in the England line-up, which had been writ large in indelible back ink ever since his debut in the 2005 Ashes - fitness allowing - has been questioned of late.
It has been 16 months since his last century in any format. However, England's selectors were probably no closer to dropping him than they were to believing his 80 at Edgbaston, Birmingham, was blemish-free. Another adage holds that fortune favours the brave. Pietersen is rarely short on courage, and his most famous innings - the counter-attacking 158 which clinched the 2005 Ashes against Australia - also contained three grassed catches. But yesterday's effort was stretching the point to ridiculous lengths.
England's leading batsman had already been dropped twice after arriving at the wicket on Friday afternoon. His third and fourth lives followed in quick succession in the morning session of day two, which was action-packed despite being abbreviated to just 6.2 overs of play by rain. First Umar Amin, one of Pakistan's misfiring young batsmen, shelled a simple chance that looped straight to him at gully, via the inside edge of Pietersen's bat and then his pad.
The catch had been so easy that Shane Warne, on commentary, ran out of synonyms for "dolly" in trying to describe it. Straight after, Pietersen found a novel way to dodge the bullet, as he was caught off a delivery from Mohammed Asif which was subsequently deemed a dead-ball. On 41 at that stage, a distracted Pietersen pulled away from the crease just as Asif reached his delivery stride - yet still had a swish as the ball was projected towards him.
The ball looped up in the direction of Salman Butt, the Pakistan captain, at mid-off, who held a tumbling catch. However, everyone suspected something must be up by that point. In the first place, a Pakistani fielder had held a catch. That clearly cannot be right for a start, and Marais Erasmus, the umpire, reprieved Pietersen. Perhaps not surprisingly, the down-on-their-luck Pakistanis had missed their chance, and they were made to pay.
By the time the sun broke through the clouds in the afternoon session, England's version of Good Luck Chuck was back in the groove. Yet still he was living on the edge. A fifth chance came and went when he had reached 74. He was bamboozled by the off-spin of Saeed Ajmal, only for the edge to evade the gloves of Zulqarnain Haider at the wicket, and race through his legs for four instead. He eventually went for 80, caught and bowled by Ajmal, who deservedly ended with five wickets.
Pietersen's was the highest score in England's tally of 251 and they were closing in on victory by stumps as they had reduced the bedraggled tourists to 19 for one. pradley@thenational.ae
