Meeting British Prime Minister Tony Blair at a Downing Street reception the day after his heroic innings helped win the Ashes back for England will be a highlight of cricket hero Kevin Pietersen’s career.
If only he could remember it.
The South African-born batsman revealed on Thursday that such was the scale of the celebrations after England defeated arch-rivals Australia, he has little recollection of meeting Blair.
Pietersen — whose 158 runs played a vital part in securing England’s draw on Monday to win the five-match Ashes series 2-1 — was among the players presented to Blair the next day.
The Downing Street reception followed an open-top bus parade through London, which in turn came after an all-night drinking binge for many of the England players.
”I don’t remember much of it, to be honest,” Pietersen said of his trip to Downing Street. ”I don’t even remember shaking the prime minister’s hand.”
The batsman was attending the premiere of football film Goal! in central London on Thursday evening, his fourth consecutive night out since the Ashes win.
Recognisable by a distinctive bleached stripe of hair on top of his head, Pietersen drew far bigger cheers from the waiting crowd that the film’s stars, Britain’s Anna Friel and United States actor Alessandro Nivola.
”We’ve spent a lot of money on alcohol and we’ve got absolutely wasted,” Pietersen admitted of the England side’s celebrations. ”For the past three or four months the boys haven’t drunk very much because they’ve been really focused on winning the Ashes.
”Now we can let our hair down and get away with being really drunk. The boys are very fortunate to have got away with everything that’s happened.”
He was somewhat scathing about the subject matter of the film.
”I wouldn’t call this a sport. It would take a lot for the England cricket team to make a movie. Footballers are great actors anyway — all you have to do is touch them on the ankle and they roll over screaming for a penalty.” — Sapa-AFP