Pietersen's performance effortless

It is very early days, of course, but Kevin Pietersen is making the business of Test captaincy look ridiculously effortless.

A century in his first innings (a feat not achieved by an official England captain for 111 years), a deft hand with bowling changes, South African wickets falling like confetti -- not bad for a man who had the job dumped in his lap with four days' notice.

Those who have known him well are not surprised. Since his schooldays, Pietersen has repeatedly shown an appetite for hard work and determination to meet a challenge. The appearance of effortlessness has come only with the most thorough preparation.

"He always believed he could do anything," said Mike Bechet, the director of sport at Maritzburg College, which Pietersen attended until 1997.

"He claimed in his book that he should have got his chance in our first XI sooner than he did and that when he got a go he did fantastically well, but his scores were more mediocre than fantastic. I always say to guys, 'Prove me wrong, pick yourself'.

"He improved after he left school. He got stronger and ended up playing for Natal Schools. Since then he has grown incredibly as a batsman. He was very aggressive when I knew him but not a match-winner.

"He was young for his year, which I'm sure affected his development, but always had a word for somebody. I'd call it confidence rather than arrogance.

"I get great delight when he scores a hundred because I know why he left South Africa, which is to be measured for what he's worth, and there's a lot of sportsmen disappearing in South Africa because they can't be.

"Kevin has gone overseas determined to prove the system here is wrong. I take my hat off to him for that."

Such was his physical and technical development, Pietersen won a place in the Natal team within two years of leaving school. "He was 18 and wouldn't have been in our set-up if he hadn't been talented," said Dale Benkenstein, then Natal captain.

"What stood out in his innings against England (of 61 not out for Natal in 1999) was how cleanly he hit the ball. Shaun Pollock said he'd never seen a guy hit the ball so cleanly at that age.

"At the end of the season he was offered a one-year contract for not a substantial amount and had the chance to go to England. I was not surprised he went. He had a British passport and it was an option.

"As long as he could put to rest in his own mind that if he never played for South Africa he could live with that, then going to England was an opportunity to have a good career."

Pietersen secured a contract as overseas pro with Birmingham League side Cannock in 2000.

"I was led to believe he was a batter but Kevin desperately wanted to bowl," recalled Laurie Potter, the captain.

"He would ring me on a Friday, asking to bowl more overs, but we had two spinners and his off-spin was inconsistent. There was a certain arrogance, though that is not a bad thing.

"He did very well with the bat. It was unfortunate that he left early -- Natal was touring Western Australia -- because he missed us clinching the title. That season was the pinnacle for us. Kevin made a lot of friends, though he had difficulties with the club (over money).

"I wouldn't want to take the credit, but maybe that season was when he began to think of himself chiefly as a batsman."

During 2000, Pietersen signed to come back the next year and play for Nottinghamshire, but before the deal was done he had a trial with Warwickshire, scoring 92 in a second XI game against Surrey. Gareth Batty, who captained Surrey seconds, recalled Pietersen's innings.

"The conditions were bowler-friendly and Carl Greenidge bowled really well and quickly. All their batsmen struggled, all except one. Carl dropped slightly short and Pietersen hooked it miles over square leg. It flew out of the ground, over some trees and knocked the tiles off the roof of a house. It made us all sit up."

Warwickshire, however, was on the look-out for a spin bowler, and passed him over.

Another admiring opponent was David Ripley, who kept wicket for Northants when Pietersen scored his first century for Notts in a pre-season game in 2001.

"Matthew Hayden hadn't arrived, so I was leading the side. We were playing on the edge of the square and Pietersen kept hitting us to the short side. At one point he turned to me and said, 'I'm off to change my gloves'. I wasn't happy that he was carting us everywhere and snapped back, 'You're supposed to ask me, not tell me'. He got his gloves, apologised and carried on smacking us.

"We played again in a one-dayer at the end of the season. It was my last match at Northampton, as I was retiring, and we had a party after the game and Kevin came along. I know he's not everyone's cup of tea but he seemed a nice guy to me. I admire his self-belief and work ethic."

Three years later, Pietersen was on the verge of completing a four-year qualification for England, and on the verge of England selection. David Graveney, then chairman of selectors, picked him for an England A tour of India early in 2004.

"He had an unusual style, unique, really. For a tall guy he got very low to drive and he hit the ball as hard as anyone," Graveney said.

"Rod Marsh was head of the academy and I spoke to him regularly while the (England A) team were in India. The team did not do well but Pietersen had a very good tour. Rod spoke a lot about him.

"Shortly after he qualified, we picked him for a one-day series in Zimbabwe and Duncan Fletcher (the England coach) was so impressed he wanted to find a way to get him on the South Africa tour.

"This happened when Andrew Flintoff returned home injured from the one-dayers. Then it was like a one-man show, Pietersen scoring hundreds on his own, batting in an extraordinarily controlled way."

Geraint Jones was an England team-mate that winter. "Kevin didn't get off to a great start in Zimbabwe," he remembered.

"He nearly ran several people out. In South Africa he played some amazing shots for a guy new to international cricket. That showed his self-belief and determination. A lot of new guys get wrapped up in how they think they should play as an international cricketer and forget what got them to that level, but Kev never had that problem.

"He has been quoted as saying that he wants to improve every day and he means it."

At The Oval, Pietersen's maturity was in full evidence as he dismissed the pre-match hype as "nonsense" and played down the media's fuss about his hundred. Asked if he was finding captaincy easy, he replied: "I wouldn't say easy. In fact, the job can only get worse." It was a good start to a mountainous journey.