KP century but draw likely again

He may only turn up every now and again, but Kevin Pietersen showed his true quality today by striking a scintillating century on Day 3 at Headingley.

Pietersen hit an unbeaten 177 off 188 balls to take Surrey to 353-7 declared, before Yorkshire ended the day 52-1.

Rain meant the start was delayed for an hour, but with us starting the morning on 53-1, still trailing by well over 300, a quiet session was needed. However, that wasn’t to be, as night-watchman Linley was caught in the slips in the first over of the day. Captain Solanki was then caught well by Gale at mid-on as he looked for an extravagant pull on 4, and Burns was trapped LBW on 29 for Sidebottom’s second wicket, as the hosts made a superb start to the day.

However, KP had other ideas and alongside the rejuvenated Zander de Bruyn, started to rebuild the innings. After over 3 months without any time in the middle, he was understandably scratchy at the beginning of his innings, but the longer he was in, the better he got. His partnership with de Bruyn had reached 97 before Zander was caught off Brooks for 38, but Pietersen had already past his half century, and was starting to tear the Yorkshire bowling attack apart.

Davies came to the crease to support Pietersen and he flew to his century, taking a particular liking to the leg spin of Adil Rashid, depositing him over the fence a number of times, before reaching his hundred with a couple into the leg side off Sidebottom. It had come off 106 balls with 12 fours and 2 maximums, but he wasn’t finished there as he raced us towards further batting points.

He lost his partner when Davies was caught off Liam Plunkett for a typically fluent 44, but that didn’t deter him as he moved to his 150 with another huge six off Adil Rashid. Gary Wilson perished for 12 as he was caught at long off looking to force the issue, but Pietersen continued on his assault, hitting 2 sixes and a four off a Sidebottom over before the declaration came with a deficit of 80.

The declaration was a brave, but positive, one and with a win so desperately needed, it was the right move. Yorkshire had 21 overs to bat tonight, and even though they lost Leeds to Keedy, they managed to negotiate them well and see themselves into the close on 52-1, a lead of 132.

What a great knock by KP at a much needed time, because if he didn’t get a score, we probably wouldn’t have avoided the follow on. His knock was reminiscent of his double hundred against Lancashire at Guildford last year, showing his real class and I wish we saw more of him at Surrey than we do.

Victory still looks unlikely as I feel that we needed to make a few inroads tonight to have any sort of chance, but that wasn’t to be, so it looks like a 9^th game without a win.