Comment: Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer

Cape Town – Who would have thought that swaggering, celebrity-conscious Kevin Pietersen might be in danger of eclipse by an earthier, more fidgety South African-born batsman in the England Test fold?

And yet that prospect is beginning to look rather less far-fetched than it might initially have seemed.

Capetonian Jonathan Trott, 29, has now completed 12 matches for his adopted country and his statistics stand up well to scrutiny thus far: 971 runs at an average of 48.55.

They make better reading than Maritzburg-born Pietersen’s both for the period in question – “KP” has played in 11 of the same Tests as Trott – and overall too, as the more experienced Pietersen’s average after 65 Tests has dipped a little to 48.23 after an extended period of indifferent form.

Of course their imbalance in appearances makes comparison reasonably unfair at this stage, although a key development for Trott of late is that he is being viewed by many experts now as England’s “permanent” solution to the once-problematic No 3 position.

And that would mean his head-to-head with 30-year-old Pietersen for the good of that country’s cause will become ever more meaningful to monitor.

He has looked the more comfortable of the two in the current series – although neither has set it alight -- against Pakistan, where England lead 2-1 with one Test to play at Lord’s later this week.

And if you examine their respective last dozen Tests since Trott’s century-making debut in the final Ashes Test at the Oval in 2009, where they have not been team-mates just once, then Trott holds fairly significant sway: Pietersen sports 735 runs at 38.68, some 10 runs down on his own career average and around the same margin shy of the Warwickshire and ex-WP player.

The No 4’s shot selection and timing has been markedly off best levels, and Pietersen is the type of player who – for all his brazenness and wonderful attacking appeal when he is on song and “feeling the love” -- succumbs to a strange, spiralling self-doubt when he is in a trough.

This one has been rather prolonged, and sans a century in 26 knocks.

But while KP ponders his present, rather luckless lot, Trott is starting to get rave reviews and being viewed as a beacon of satisfying stability for the bid to retain the urn Down Under in 2010/11.

The Daily Mail’s authoritative Lawrence Booth, for instance, who has traditionally had a good rapport with Pietersen, came out singing Trott’s praises recently: “(He) is a superb long-term bet at No 3 … he has become England’s most dependable operator.

“Less technically flawed than Cook, less inclined to the brainstorm than Strauss, less look-at-me than Pietersen, tighter than Collingwood and more orthodox than Morgan.

“These may not be qualities to set the pulse racing, but England have long craved a No 3 who doesn’t inspire supporters to chew their nails.

“If England are to defend the Ashes, they will need batsmen with Trott’s capacity for concentration.”

Pietersen, of course, is always likelier to be an England equivalent to a Herschelle Gibbs in certain respects (albeit statistically much better at Test level as things stand) given his penchant for audacious, crowd-pleasing strokeplay.

But might Trott grow into some kind of mini-Kallis for durability? The seeds seem to be there, and England will not be complaining …