Kevin Pietersen makes his England case with century on Surrey return

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James Benge

12 April 2015

Kevin Pietersen’s pursuit of a return to the England team got off to the best possible start, as the 34-year-old hit a century on his first match since rejoining Surrey.

In a match against Oxford University at The Parks Pietersen showed the England selectors what they were missing with a rapid-fire hundred, coming in just 110 balls and including 14 fours.

Immediately after reaching the ton the Surrey new man was dropped off the bowling of Matt Hughes, but it was a rare error in an excellent innings from Pietersen.

After reaching his century Pietersen took the attack to the Oxford bowlers, letting loose with back-to-back sixes. He reached his 150 off just 142 balls.

The former England batsman’s innings was in marked contrast to the performances of his Surrey teammates, who struggled to deal with Oxford’s attack.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">KP was here. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/KP24" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-67861-https://twitter.com/KP24" data-vars-event-id="c23">@KP24</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/surreycricket" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-67861-https://twitter.com/surreycricket" data-vars-event-id="c23">@surreycricket</a>. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/spang?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-67861-https://twitter.com/hashtag/spang?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#spang</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=9&id=222025&p=http://t.co/4kkzJUeaHz" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-67861-http://t.co/4kkzJUeaHz" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/4kkzJUeaHz</a>— Andrew Miller (@miller_cricket) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/miller_cricket/status/587261045498085377" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-67861-https://twitter.com/miller_cricket/status/587261045498085377" data-vars-event-id="c23">April 12, 2015</a>

Sam Weller picked up the wickets of both openers with just 31 on the board and the university bowlers struck regularly early on to limit the county side to 113-5. Then Pietersen and Gary Wilson came together for a hundred partnership that steadied the Surrey ship.

Pietersen eventually fell for 170.

Pietersen has not played for England in any form since the fifth test against Australia in the 2013-14 Ashes. A series of explosive revelations in the batsman’s subsequent autobiography, including allegations of a bullying culture within the England dressing room, seemed to have extinguished any hope of the South African native returning to the side.

However comments from incoming ECB chairman Colin Graves suggested that if the exiled batsmen were willing to play county cricket he may have a shot at returning to the England set up.

Pietersen’s IPL employers, Sunrisers Hyderabad, subsequently agreed to release their £200,000 signing for the county season.

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Kevin Pietersen makes his England case with century on Surrey return

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