The Ashes: Kevin Pietersen has surgery

On his achilles that is, before all you KP-haters out there get too excited.  This means that he will miss the rest of the Ashes.  Frankly, we could see this coming with all the inevitability of a tax increase.  Four injections to limp through five days of cricket is too much.

KP admitted that the injury has been playing on his mind a lot, although he claims it did not inhibit his batting.  We disagree.  It may not have felt like it, as he has been carrying the injury for ages.  If it is affecting his state of mind, then it is affecting his batting.

Batting is, once a sound technique is in place, mostly a question of mental strength.  If a player is worried about an injury, it will sap his mental strength over a period of time, particularly if the injury continues to worsen.  Which might explain why we have seen KP struggling at Lord’s and repeatedly getting out to silly shots in previous Test matches.

So it is time that he goes away and gets the injury sorted.  He can come back stronger for it, in time for the winter tour to South Africa.  If England are sensible, they will let KP miss the pointless Champions Trophy as well.

Ian Bell will come into the team for the 3rd Test, at his home ground Edgbaston.  This much is a given – Bell has been in the squad up until this point, and England do not deviate from their pecking-order very often.  Whether they choose to select a reserve batsman to spend some time around the squad is another matter.

If they do, there are several options – uncapped players such as Bell’s Warwickshire teammate Jonathan Trott, Joe Denly of Kent or Somerset’s James Hildreth.  Having stuck so rigidly to the same group of players in recent years, England do not have any other batsmen with Test experience with the exception of Owais Shah, who has been disappointing when he has played.