Kevin Pietersen Popular Books
Kevin Pietersen Biography & Facts
Kevin Peter Pietersen (born 27 June 1980) is a British-South African cricket commentator, conservationist, and former England international captain. He is regarded as one of the greatest English batsman to have played the game. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who played in all three formats for England between 2005 and 2014, which included a brief tenure as captain. He won the Player of the Series award for his heroics in 2010 ICC World Twenty20 and for helping the England Cricket Team win their maiden ICC trophy. Pietersen was born to an Afrikaner father and English mother in South Africa. He made his first-class debut for Natal in 1997 and moved to England in 2000, after voicing his displeasure at what he said was the racial quota system in South African cricket. Being of English ancestry, Pietersen was eligible for the England team so long as he first served a four-year qualifying period in English county cricket. He was called up by England almost immediately after he completed four years with Nottinghamshire. He made his international debut in the One Day International (ODI) match against Zimbabwe in 2004 and his Test match debut in the 2005 Ashes series against Australia. Pietersen left Nottinghamshire for Hampshire in 2005, but the England team's subsequent reliance on him resulted in Pietersen making only a single first-class appearance for his new county between 2005 and 2010. In June 2010, Pietersen announced his wish to leave Hampshire; he joined Surrey on loan for the remainder of the season, then moved permanently in 2011. Pietersen was captain of the England Test and ODI teams from 4 August 2008 to 7 January 2009, but resigned after just three Tests and nine ODIs following a dispute with the England coach Peter Moores, who was sacked the same day. Pietersen's relationship with the ECB never fully recovered. This came to a head in 2012 when, after a disagreement over his schedule, Pietersen announced his retirement from all forms of international limited-overs cricket on 31 May. Although he later retracted his retirement, his relationship with both the ECB and his team-mates soured during the series against South Africa, and he was dropped for the final Test of that series. Pietersen last played for England in the 2013–14 Ashes and subsequent ODIs, after which he was informed that he was no longer being considered for international selection. He also played for the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League until the end of BBL|07 (seventh season), the Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League as well as the Hollywoodbets Dolphins in the CSA T20 Challenge. He was also signed by the Rising Pune Supergiants for the 2016 season of the Indian Premier League. Pietersen is one of the fastest batsman to reach 1,000 ODI runs and still holds the record for being the fastest player to cross 2,000 runs in One Day International cricket. He has the second-highest run total from his first 25 Tests, behind only Sir Don Bradman of Australia, and was the fastest player, in terms of days, to reach 4,000, 5,000 and 7,000 Test runs. He became only the third English batsman to top the ICC One Day International rankings, doing so in March 2007. In July 2008, after a century against South Africa, The Times called him "the most complete batsman in cricket" and in 2012 The Guardian called him "England's greatest modern batsman". On the occasion of England's 1000th Test in August 2018, he was named in the country's greatest Test XI by the ECB. Early and personal life Pietersen was born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal Province, South Africa, to an English mother, Penny, and an Afrikaner father, Jannie. Pietersen had a strict and disciplined childhood, along with his three brothers Tony, Greg and Bryan; he learned valuable lessons from this "fantastic" approach to parenting, and said: "Discipline is good. It taught me that I didn't always have to have what I wanted; that what I needed was different from what I wanted." Bryan played club and second XI cricket in England. A forearm injury at 11 years old meant Pietersen could not play rugby, but he played hockey, tennis and squash, which also made his right arm very strong for batting. Pietersen attended Maritzburg College, Pietermaritzburg, and made his first-class cricket debut for Natal's B team in 1997, aged 17, where he was regarded predominantly as an off spin bowler and a hard-hitting lower-order batsman. After two seasons, he moved to England for a five-month spell as the overseas player for club side Cannock CC, helping them win the Birmingham and District Premier League in 2000. This first spell away from home did not leave him with fond memories for England, in particular "those horrible Black Country accents" referring to a dialect of the West Midlands, living in a single room above a squash court, and working in the club bar. However, he returned to newly renamed KwaZulu Natal side a better cricketer; a lack of opportunities to bowl had improved his batting. Having seen Pietersen play at a school cricket festival, Clive Rice invited him to sign for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. Pietersen accepted without hesitation, keen to make the most of top-class cricket under a coach for whom he had the utmost admiration. He did not at this stage contemplate forsaking his nation; it had not yet occurred to him that the decision would have to be taken. Pietersen is widely portrayed in the media as having a self-assured personality, described by Geoffrey Boycott as being "cocky and confident". Former England test captain Michael Vaughan counters this, saying, "KP is not a confident person. He obviously has great belief in his ability but that's not quite the same thing... And I know KP wants to be loved. I try to text him and talk to him as often as I can because I know he is insecure." He has been noted for unusual haircuts, with his peroxide blonde-dyed streak of hair along the middle of his head during the 2005 Ashes series being described as a "dead skunk" look. During the 2006–07 Ashes tour, the Australian team, noted for their efforts to dominate opponents psychologically, dubbed him "The Ego", or "FIGJAM" (Fuck I'm Good, Just Ask Me). Other nicknames include "KP", "Kelves" and "Kapes". Pietersen is married to former Liberty X singer Jessica Taylor. The couple married on 29 December 2007 at St Andrew's Church in Castle Combe, Wiltshire, with former England team-mate Darren Gough acting as best man. Jessica gave birth to the couple's first child, a son, in 2010. Pietersen travelled back from touring with the England side in Barbados to be present at the birth. He arrived at the hospital just in time for the birth. Their second child, a daughter, was born in 2015. Pietersen took leave from playing for the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League in Australia to be present for the birth. Pietersen considers South Africa his first home and England his second home, and the family split their time be.... Discover the Kevin Pietersen popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Kevin Pietersen books.
Best Seller Kevin Pietersen Books of 2024
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The Judge
Robin Smith & Rob SmythSHORTLISTED FOR THE TELEGRAPH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS Robin Smith was one of England's most popular cricketers of the 1990s. The Judge, as he was known to all, took on some of the most...
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Giggs
Joe Lovejoy & Ryan GiggsRyan Giggs first played for Manchester United in the season before the Premiership began; back when Bryan Robson was still captain. He took possession of United's left wing and nev...
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Kevin Pietersen on Cricket
Kevin PietersenIn 2014, Kevin Pietersen's autobiography was one of the most talked about sporting media stories of the year, largely due to the shockwaves it sent through the cricketing establish...
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KP - Portrait of a Rebel - The Biography of Kevin Pietersen
Marcus SteadKevin Pietersen is a renowned cricketing renegade and one of the greatest and most controversial cricketers of his generation.Born in South Africa in 1980 to an Afrikaner father ...
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Jimmy
James AndersonEngland's recordbreaking fast bowler reveals the truth behind his remarkable career. In his first book, James Anderson (or Jimmy, as everyone knows him) tells the story of hi...
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On Fire
Ben StokesTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERSHORTLISTED FOR SPORTS AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR AT THE 2020 TELEGRAPH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS.BEN STOKES: WINNER OF THE 2019 BBC SPORTS PERSONALITY OF THE YE...
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Shane
Delme Parfitt & Shane WilliamsShane Williams has spent almost a decade thrilling the rugby world with his evasive running skills and a box of tricks that has left the best defences grasping thin air, disproving...
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Stark
Ben EltonStark is a secret consortium with more money than God, and the social conscience of a dog on a croquet lawn. What's more, it knows the Earth is dying.Deep in Western Australia wher...
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Ghost on the Wall
Derek DohrenGhost on the Wall is the official biography of one of Liverpool Football Club's greatest ever servants: Roy Evans. Born in Bootle in 1948, Evans attracted the attention of many Fir...
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Seve
Alistair TaitSeve is the most extrovert player Europe has ever produced. Playboy good looks along with a magnetism that attracted nongolfers to the game made him the biggest drawing card Europe...
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Joking Apart
Donncha O'CallaghanDonncha O'Callaghan is one of Ireland's leading international rugby players, and a stalwart of the Munster side. He was a key figure in the Irish team which won the IRB 6 Nations G...
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Test Match Special - 50 Not Out
Peter BaxterIn 1957 a whole day's play of a Test Match was broadcast on BBC Radio for the first time with the slogan 'Don't miss a ball, we broadcast them all'. This book celebrates 50 years o...
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Playfair Cricket Annual 2015
Ian MarshallThe cricket world's bestselling pocket annual. The indispensable guide to the season.The Playfair Cricket Annual 2015 includes coverage of the 2014 season, including the LV= County...
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Hedley Verity
Alan HillThe name of Hedley Verity, the master bowler of unyielding menace, is one to be cherished more than 50 years after his death. Allan Hill tells the story of a magnificent sporting o...
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The Test
Simon JonesWinner of the Wisden Book of the YearEighteen years, eight series, eight defeats. These are the facts. I look around the room. We’re a young team. Strauss, Flintoff, Vaughan, the n...
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Playfair Cricket Annual 2016
Ian Marshallupdated file.The cricket world's bestselling pocket annual. The indispensable guide to the season.The Playfair Cricket Annual 2016 includes coverage of the 2015 season, including t...
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Sharpy
Graeme SharpGraeme Sharp is quite simply an Everton legend. Second only to the immortal Dixie Dean as the club's top goalscorer, he netted 159 goals in over 400 appearances for the Toffees. Sh...
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Broadside
Stuart BroadThe photograph was splashed all over the front pages of the newspapers: Stuart Broad's astonished face after a brilliant catch in the slips helped him towards a remarkable spell of...
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Controversially Yours
Anshu DograA tellall book on and by Pakistan cricket's fastest and most controversial bowlerOne of the most talented and certainly one of the most colourful players in the history of cricket,...
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Playing With Fire
Nasser HussainNasser Hussain was acclaimed as England's best cricket captain since Mike Brearley. Under his leadership, a side more famous for its batting collapses and ability to seize defeat f...