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Buchanan claims Pietersen could be weak link in Ashes

LONDON — Former Australia coach John Buchanan believes Kevin Pietersen could be the weak link in England’s attempt to retain the Ashes in Australia.

Pietersen has been struggling for form and is currently playing in South Africa in a bid to rediscover his touch ahead of the trip to Australia later this year.

The flamboyant batsman hit a new low in a difficult year when he was axed from England’s one-day squad for their series against Pakistan and responded by launching a foul-mouthed rant about the decision on micro-blogging website Twitter.

Australia sense Pietersen is completely out of sorts and captain Ricky Ponting recently described him as a vulnerable part of the team.

Now Buchanan, who has worked as a consultant to the England squad this year, claims his home country could take advantage of Pietersen’s problems.

“They (England) seem to have a new mental toughness and they are more consistent, except for the odd glitch, which is mainly Kevin Pietersen,” Buchanan wrote in The Wisden Cricketer.

“He is a quality player and he could be an incredible strength for them but, if he’s not scoring runs, he could become a major problem for the batting line-up and the entire team. (England coach) Andy Flower has been trying to work on that.

“Pietersen hasn’t done himself or the team any favours with his recent twittering. Two of the things that will be tested in Australia are strength and unity and clearly he hasn’t understood his role within the team yet.

“He has the potential to be an individualist and fragmentary. It needs to be managed by (Andrew) Strauss and Flower.”

England will travel to Australia hoping for a better defence of the Ashes than their last effort in 2006-07 when they slumped to a 5-0 whitewash after winning the trophy two years earlier.

Buchanan expects England to put up a better fight this time, even if they lack many players with experience of an Ashes tour.

“None of them has any experience of winning in Australia,” he said. “Playing overseas is very different and they have yet to prove they can do it over a five-Test series in Australia.

“At some point doubts will start to creep into their heads and it is all about how they deal with them. They need to retain this spirit and sense of purpose.

“England teams in the past would often be beaten before the Test started. They didn’t believe in themselves, even when they were ahead, but they are better at handling that now.

“The top four, Strauss, Cook, Trott and Pietersen, will be England’s most important players. That is where the series will be decided. Whoever wins the battle of the top fours will win the series.”