Quote ="Shifty Cat"Really mate? no doubt the lads had a great year and was lucky to be part of a very good one day team, but until this year on the whole his career has been fairly inconsistent imo, with bat and ball, hence his averages. Don't you remember the T20 final 2016 where we had a big lead in the last over to win the Trophy and Stokes got took for 4 sixes and WI won.
No doubt it was an excellent innings at Headingley but for me it isn't the best I've seen even in Leeds, that would be Pietersen's against SA in 2012 where he dominated Steyn, Philander & Morkel like they were U13 side and they were the best bowling attack atm, scored 149 off about 200 balls. I can't take away what Stokes done this summer, he's really come of age & he's finally becoming the batman I thought he would be in Test cricket, but for me Pietersen is still by some distance the best big game player England have had, as well as playing some of their best innings full stop, when it was the Ashes or India or SA, or when we won the World T20, Pietersen always seemed to put on a show.'"
I take it you never saw Ian Botham? His 149 at Headingly in 1981 was off 148 balls against Australia whos attack included the likes of Dennis Lillee and Geoff Lawson! A match winning innings without a doubt along with the 7 or 8 wickets he also took in the game! Pieterson was a great batsman but in terms of match winners can't be mentioned in the same breath as Botham! And Botham was English of course!
