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Johannesburg - Graham Gooch has been tasked with the job of restoring Kevin Pietersen’s shattered confidence.
The former England captain joined the team as batting coach last week on the eve of the first Test against South Africa, which starts at Centurion on December 16.
Pietersen, who is comfortably the visitors’ best batsman, could only score 52 runs in the three one-day games against the Proteas after four months on the sidelines with an Achilles injury.
“I’m really looking forward to working with Goochie over the next few weeks,” Pietersen told the Cricinfo website.
“His approach is much the same as mine and that of Andy Flower (England coach) - that batting is simple, but that you have to work very hard at the psychological aspect.”
Gooch scored 8 900 runs, including a best of 333, in 118 Tests for England and will help coach the visitors’ batsmen until after the Test at SuperSport Park.
Pietersen said that he was struggling with his confidence - something the South African-born star has never had a shortage of before.
“You have to believe in your ability and I’m trying my best to get back to form, but it’s difficult after such a long rest period,” he said.
“The big thing is to get used to the speed at which things happen in international cricket again because you can’t train in the nets to face Dale Steyn and Morné Morkel bowling at 150km/h.”
He hopes to get better batting opportunities when the first of two training games against a South African Invitation XI starts in East London on Wednesday.
Swing bowler James Anderson will miss the match because of a knee injury.
Meanwhile, the Proteas have dropped down to third on the International Cricket Council’s rankings for one-day teams following their series defeat against England.
Australia top the world rankings, followed by India, who on Saturday also replaced South Africa as the world’s top-ranked Test side following a series thrashing of Sri Lanka.
AB de Villiers is the only South African to have advanced and is now third in the batting rankings, with Graeme Smith joint eighth and the injured Jacques Kallis at No 10.
Dale Steyn (eighth) and Johan Botha (10th) are the only South African bowlers among the top 10.
Johannesburg - Graham Gooch has been tasked with the job of restoring Kevin Pietersen’s shattered confidence.
The former England captain joined the team as batting coach last week on the eve of the first Test against South Africa, which starts at Centurion on December 16.
Pietersen, who is comfortably the visitors’ best batsman, could only score 52 runs in the three one-day games against the Proteas after four months on the sidelines with an Achilles injury.
“I’m really looking forward to working with Goochie over the next few weeks,” Pietersen told the Cricinfo website.
“His approach is much the same as mine and that of Andy Flower (England coach) - that batting is simple, but that you have to work very hard at the psychological aspect.”
Gooch scored 8 900 runs, including a best of 333, in 118 Tests for England and will help coach the visitors’ batsmen until after the Test at SuperSport Park.
Pietersen said that he was struggling with his confidence - something the South African-born star has never had a shortage of before.
“You have to believe in your ability and I’m trying my best to get back to form, but it’s difficult after such a long rest period,” he said.
“The big thing is to get used to the speed at which things happen in international cricket again because you can’t train in the nets to face Dale Steyn and Morné Morkel bowling at 150km/h.”
He hopes to get better batting opportunities when the first of two training games against a South African Invitation XI starts in East London on Wednesday.
Swing bowler James Anderson will miss the match because of a knee injury.
Meanwhile, the Proteas have dropped down to third on the International Cricket Council’s rankings for one-day teams following their series defeat against England.
Australia top the world rankings, followed by India, who on Saturday also replaced South Africa as the world’s top-ranked Test side following a series thrashing of Sri Lanka.
AB de Villiers is the only South African to have advanced and is now third in the batting rankings, with Graeme Smith joint eighth and the injured Jacques Kallis at No 10.
Dale Steyn (eighth) and Johan Botha (10th) are the only South African bowlers among the top 10.
