It may be just another coincidence (or is it? ), but England yet again lost an ODI in which Pietersen made a big score. I am not certain of the statistics, but they seem to have lost most, if not all, the ODIs in which he scored a century (and quite a good percentage of the ones where he made 50+) since becoming part of the England team. In sharp contrast, England gradually improved and actually went on to win the Commonwealth bank series when Pietersen was absent injured. Life is stranger then fiction.

It is indeed bizarre. Maybe the inclusion of him in the team detracts from the team spirit?

Ooh... well spotted! It's certainly true: when KP makes a ton (of which he has four), England have lost three and tied one.

When KP scores a half century, it translates to five wins, twelve losses and a tie.

I don't think it anything to do with KP per se, just maybe England become complacent because of his high scoring, or he has little support.

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"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose."
- Ayrton Senna

Maybe KP should be encouraged to throw his wicket after he has achieved a decent 50+ score; England then might have a small chance of winning.

More than likely, still they'd have a larger chance than India of winning .

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Mark.

Oh yes! If they continue to whinge about the 'Fernando incident' or the Symonds-Pieterson 'catch', the organisers might just hand the World Cup to England in disgust. Worth a try.

When India lost, I was the first do admit that they did so for two reasons - one, they played badly and two, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka played very well. England supporters seem to find excuses for their team's losses just about everywhere including granny's broom cupboard.

If you read the posts of the England supporters you will find we are more concerned with our own selection policy than anything else.

I think it's a shallow statistic since england generally lose anyway. So they also generally lose when peitersen makes a ton. Oh and look, they also seem to lose when he makes 50 runs, and it appears that if the sun is out and the sky is blue england tend to lose. And you'll note that if it's on a day ending in y england lose more than they win. Hmm, very peculiar.
Ok, I know you're contrasting it with his absence towards the end of the CB series, you might be on to something.
But honestly that felt more like australia lost the series than england won it, oz had a dip in form.
Peitersen would need to get injured again in correlation with england improving for me to start believing.
That would be somewhat strange.

As an afterthought...
Maybe peitersen makes collingwood nervous? Because collingwood won the cb series pretty much single handedly.
Collingwood might just have a man crush on peitersen that makes him tense up and play poorly?
Ofcourse he still plays pretty good, but judging by his performance in the CB series final that is still bad by his potential's standards.

I am NOT talking about ALL England supporters, but there does seem to be a general trend to find excuses when things don't go according to plan and England lose. Over the years, I have heard many respected bona fide British commentators mention this attitude among supporters for various sports, among them Desmond Lyneham, Daley Thomson & Roger Black who all felt that there was a 'bad loser' streak in the home fans.....the "I wonder if...." thing. But the converse is almost never true.....if it had been Symonds who juggled unsuccessfully to make a catch off a Pietersen skier, there would have been a flood of posts quoting the rule book about being in control of the catch and applauding the umpire for "doing the right thing" in not putting up the finger.

I think most English cricket fans blame the players and selectors incompetance for us losing. I think youll find (apart from ever the optimist Ern) that there was little or no hope us us progressing past the super 8 stage

Our loss to SL was caused by our top order batting poorly against what is admittedly a good ODI attack. Against Aus again we didnt score enough runs.

Yes, some of the so called football fans always look for excuses when the national team dont win things but us cricket fans can see the real reason - our team isnt good enough!!

For someone who supports India (and SA, Aus, WI and NZ.... anyone but England!) you seem to spend a lot of time discussing Englands various failures .

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Mark.