Centurion Pietersen happy to "stand up for England"
Kevin Pietersen likes to score runs when under pressure
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Thursday, 05, Jun 2008 10:05
Kevin Pietersen admitted his century against New Zealand today was extra special as he thrived on scoring his runs under so much pressure.
With his team struggling on 86/5, Pietersen dug deep to score 115 from 223 – his slowest Test match hundred – and shared in a 161 partnership with wicket-keeper Tim Ambrose (67) as England recovered to 273/7 by the end of the first day's play.
Pietersen fell late in the day, but was still proud of the way he batted and felt his team were in a strong position.
"I like to stand up for England and score runs when they count. I will feel a lot better when I get back knowing I have scored runs when we were in trouble," said Pietersen.
"There have been a few centuries I have scored when England have been down in the dumps and it's something I pride myself on.
"I like to be counted on days when it's been really tough, it's a good judge of character and is something I thrive on."
Pietersen has had a difficult start to the summer and before today's knock, he had only a high score of 42 from the first two Test matches against New Zealand. He looked to be struggling to cope with the spin wizardry of Daniel Vettori in particular.
But the 27-year-old was back to his attacking best today and hit 14 fours in his innings and played Vettori very well.