'Pietersen is just like a spoilt child'

London: Let's not kid ourselves. England were lucky to escape from Cardiff with a draw.

They were outplayed in every department of the game, and if they keep performing like that, I can see them losing the series 4-0.

I was worried after the first day, when Kevin Pietersen came to talk to the media and suggested that 336 for seven represented a good position. Which came as a surprise to me, given that six of England's top seven batsmen had scored between 30 and 69, and not one had gone on to make a hundred on an absolute pancake of a pitch.

Well, if the England players were full of themselves at the end of day one, they were not so cocky after day four. By that stage, they had been given a lesson in simple batting technique.

The Australians - with the freakish exception of Phillip Hughes - all made a big stride forward, played straight, and hit the bad ball. There was no flashiness about their innings, and hardly any mistakes; they just manoeuvred the ball into the gaps, and kept the scoreboard ticking. Isn't that what you're taught at school?

The trouble with England's batsmen is that they are one-dimensional. They only want to play with an attacking mentality, and when they are presented with a situation that demands a different approach they cannot adapt.

On Wednesday they batted with gay abandon, scoring at four runs an over as if they were chasing a 50-over target. In all the excitement, they forgot to build the big partnerships that would have taken control of the game.

Pietersen has to accept a lot of the blame. He is England's talismanic trump card, yet he never puts his hand up to admit he has made a mistake. He never says: "That was poor judgement" or: "I should have pulled out of the shot." If he could only bring himself to do that, we would respect him for being honest and human.

But instead he always diverts attention on to something else. In this case, he blamed the helmet.

How dare it get in the way of such an audacious sweep shot by such a great player? Give the helmet a smack!

Pietersen is like a spoilt child, the family favourite who can get away with anything because he is the golden boy. Until someone takes the trouble to discipline him, he will keep making the same stupid mistakes over and over again.

Test cricket Test cricket is like chess. You have to search for an opening.

They have a couple of days to do some serious appraisal and rethink their whole approach to the game of Test cricket.