Crossing the Boundary: The Early Years in My Cricketing Life

Modern sportsmen are getting into a bad habit of writing books far too early in their careers. This is a totally unnecessary effort from KP. From the corny cover photo to his self-protestations of intensity it makes for a poor read and lacks insight. At present he just needs to let his runs do the talking.

Pietersen would be a lot more readable if he showed a bit more self awareness. His ill-informed views on the South Africa quota system make him sound ridiculously naive and lack any credibility. It is easy to see why his media quotes have regularly made him appear more obtuse than he really is.

My advice is stick to batting old son and keep that trap shut.

Fascinating insight into amazing character (3/6 people found this helpful)

I am writing this as KP enters the dark night of the soul. 5-0 whitewash and a broken rib from gentle pace Glenn McGrath. World cup prospects threatened.

Yet this book shows that one thing Kevin Pietersen is not bothered about is adversity. He will be back.

The book obviously stops before this Winter's Ashes debacle, but the character of the man is all there. His fiercely competitive, sporting childhood; his fastidious approach; his unnerving determination and confidence and his hard loyalty to friends.

KP is far more interesting than the flambouyant hairstyle and extravagant jewellery. He is a sporting obsessive. He clearly sees his own destiny and is utterly, utterly committed to achieving it.

This book charts the nature of this drive. When the quota system designed to re-integrate South African cricket meant that the young KP, then a promising off-spinner who batted, was dropped by Natal, he showed no hesitation. He pursued a career in England, using the fact of his mother's English birth to secure a non-overseas player berth at Notts.

He was a run machine, easily topping the county averages and working well with Clive Rice, the SA legend who was coach of the team.

But KP bears grudges and takes sides.

On no less then three occassions in this book, he derides little known coaches who failed to nurture his talent, or hindered him, and laughs at the fact that they claim him as 'one of theirs.' He also still takes exception at the fact that he felt short changed during his barman stint while at an English club team! The guy must have millions by now, but still, you cross KP, you stay on the black-list.

When Notts and Rice parted company, simmering trouble with Pietersen exploded and the man who left behind South Africa was not going to let Notts get in the way. Soon he was at Hampshire.

The determination, the apparent lack of a 'live and let live' attitude and his reliance on a select group of friends and supporters all combine to produce someone utterly committed to cricket. There's none of the 'what the hell' blokey-ness of Andrew Flintoff here. Just hard obsession. Frankly he's terrifying. Glad he's on our side.

I liked and admired Kevin Pietersen after reading this book. It is no co-incidence that of the entire England team only Pietersen emerged from the Ashes disaster with his reputation enhanced. If you want to understand how a really successful sportsman thinks, read this book. Yes it has obvious padding from his mates, chipping in with their thoughts on the great KP, and some might think it thin as his test career as only just got going, but the psychological insight in this work, whether it's supposed to be there or not, lifts this book right out of the normal sports biography.

Crossing the Boundary: The Early Years in My Cricketing Life

Kevin Pietersen

Reader Reviews:

Stick to cricket (0/2 people found this helpful)

Fascinating insight into amazing character (3/6 people found this helpful)

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