Kevin Pietersen
Source: CricketArchive, 17 November 2013 Kevin Peter Pietersen, MBE (born 27 June 1980) is a South African-born English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who formerly played for England and currently plays for Surrey as well as Twenty20 in the Indian Premier League for Delhi Daredevils , in the Caribbean Premier League for St Lucia Zouks and in the Big Bash League for Melbourne Stars. Pietersen was born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal Province, South Africa. He made his first-class debut for Natal in 1997 before moving to England, after voicing his displeasure at the racial quota system in place in South Africa. His English mother made him eligible to play for England and after serving a qualifying period of four years playing at county level, he was called up almost immediately into the national side. He made his international debut in the One Day International match against Zimbabwe in 2004 and his Test match debut in the 2005 Ashes series against Australia the following year. The England team's subsequent reliance on Pietersen resulted in only a single first-class appearance for Hampshire between 2005 and 2010. On 17 June 2010, Pietersen announced his wish to leave Hampshire and he subsequently joined Surrey on loan for the remainder of the season before joining the club permanently from the 2011 season onwards. He 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 England coach Peter Moores, who was sacked the same day. His 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 became the fastest batsman to reach both 1,000 and 2,000 runs in One Day International cricket He has the second-highest run total from his first 25 Tests, behind only the Australian Sir Donald Bradman, 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". 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. In February 2014, he was signed by the Delhi Daredevils IPL team for 1.5 million USD, and he captained the team for this season. Kevin Pietersen was also by the Melbourne Stars in 2014–15 Big Bash League season, with a contract for 2 years as the no.3 batsmen. He has been called the greatest signing in 2014–15 Big Bash League season by the Ten Network. On 18 December 2014, Kevin Pietersen played his first match in 2014–15 Big Bash League season as the no.3 batsmen. He made 66 runs off 41 balls and he also took a catch at point to dismiss Head off Hastings.