Much to England's adversity, Kevin Pietersen's bad form continues. A 48 ball 36, after which he said that he is "feeling like he used to play" was followed by a second ball duck. But he always faced challenges, battered the best so I still expect him to come out good in the Ashes. Many had felt that he used to be good, blah, blah...I think he is still good, just struggling at the moment. Though it was still good to hear that he was feeling like he used to play because let's face it, he was a basher back then. And it might have to do something with things other than his batting, like the change in his personality, hairstyle, attempt to play a long innings and helping England draw Tests. Though as far as I can remember, he hasn't really helped much when it comes to draws.

I was a bit confused about South African domestic cricket until I did my research today. I had heard there are only 6 teams in their domestic cricket, like Australia, but there are different competitions and different teams play in them. Like, 13 teams play in CSA Provincial Three-Day Challenge and One-Day Challenge but yeah, 6 teams in SuperSport Series (4-day matches), MTN40 and Standard Bank Pro20 Series. I had read that KP will play for Kwa-zulu Natal some time ago but he actually played for the Dolphins.

John Buchanan, who is working with England this Ashes series, has said Pietersen "has the potential to be fragmentary and an individualist" and could be a "major problem". As you may have imagined by my past comments, I don't agree with this and whether or not he is true or not, I've never appreciated someone criticising its own players. It's good to tell someone personally what's wrong with them so that they can improve but since Buchanan is working with England, speaking publicly like this is not ideal. Strauss on the other hand, said:

Kevin Pietersen has never been a problem for the England cricket team. Buchanan is off the mark to say that - I'm sure Kevin will come to the party.

He also said that there is no chance of dropping Kapes for the 1st Ashes Test, no matter what happens in the warm up matches.

Despite Jimmy Anderson's injury, he defended the boot camp saying that they gained a lot from it.

We weren't expecting injuries and the guys taking the course were told to make sure that did not happen, but things do happen. We are professional sportsmen and you are going to get injuries, whether it is in the nets, the gym sessions or on one of these camps.

Andrew Strauss on James Anderson acquiring an injury during the boot camp in Germany.

Yeah we all know sportspersons can get injured even when they are not playing, like Nel  was at his own home when he opened refrigerator and then a water filled bottle fell on his toe. He got injured so much that he could not play that series. But we shall do our best to avoid injuries, shan't we? Chris Tremlett was the one Jimmy was boxing with. Oh, that's a good way to make his way to the team but he might have to injure other bowlers too. Just joking.

Cheers.

Other posts:

•  Blow to the Ashes - Jimmy Anderson to miss first 2 Tests
• Astonishment at its best, daring ECB drops Kevin Pietersen 
• England cricketers on twitter!
• I'm with KP, are you?