Kevin Pietersen cautions Australia not to panic

Kevin Pietersen cautions Australia not to panic

Kevin Pietersen, the 36-year old batsman, has urged Australia not to overreact to their 177-run defeat to South Africa in the opening Test of the three-match series in Perth.

This is in complete contrast to what he had said to British broadcaster BT Sport after the match, asserting that the defeat was "a humongous disaster" and that there could be "eight or nine changes" for the second Test at Hobart.

Ricky Ponting, working for BT Sport's UK studio, had laughed off Pietersen's comments as "ridiculous."

In his defence, Pietersen has now said that was the reaction his comments were meant to evoke.

"It was (all) tongue in cheek, because I knew Punter was in the box and he'd have something to say, (so it was) just to rile him a little bit, the patriotic great leader that he was," Pietersen said on Tuesday (November 8)."I came off my long run saying eight or nine changes. Nonsense. A couple of changes maybe but don't stress too much and don't do anything too drastic.

"Because then the players coming in think 'Oh my goodness, they can chop and change after one Test match, imagine if I fail'.So you want to give a little bit of a run to certain key players, but there is a cloud hanging over a couple," he added.

Australia's defeat at Perth - their first in the opening Test of a home season since 1988 - has been heavily criticized, and fairly so, after they were whitewashed 3-0 on their recent tour to Sri Lanka. Pietersen, however, reckons that Australia need not panic.

"The one thing you can't do is make drastic changes after one Test loss," Pietersen was quoted telling Optus Sport on Tuesday (November 8)."A lot of people are talking about instability in the dressing room, they're talking about changes from the coach to the high performance team.I think Australia should stick with what they've got. Because I don't think there is a lot better than what they've got right now.

"Don't stress, don't do anything too drastic, just live this out for a couple of weeks, see where you get to, then you can go back to the drawing board."

Pietersen also called on Australia to be optimistic because they "actually had one day of very, very good Test cricket" before South Africa mounted a stunning riposte.

After managing a modest 242 after winning the toss, Warner was going hammer and tongs, before he edged a Dale Steyn delivery to slip - three short of his century - and kick-started an embarrassing cavalcade back to the pavilion. South Africa, having conceded just a two-run lead, declared at 540 for 8 in the second innings, with JP Duminy and Dean Elgar hitting memorable tons, and then rode on Kagiso's Rabada's astounding five-fer to cap off one of their best Test wins.