Walk the talk

I think it's safe to assume that Kevin Pietersen was clearly referring to winning man of the match awards when he told BBC Sport

I am looking forward to the time when a bloke comes up, takes his chance and grabs that magnum of champagne.

Kevin, some introspection may not be a bad idea. Perhaps you ought to think about putting your words into action. If only you'd converted some of your 40s, 60s and 70s in India to bigger scores, the final scoreline could have been quite different and you'd have been the chap uncorking the champagne, especially given that your dismissals tended to ensure that any momentum England had, was lost.

Looking at England's performance in one-dayers over the last year, Marcus Trescothick has won a man of the match award twice, against Ireland & Australia. Andrew Strauss, currently fulfilling a dream role of being a stand-in for the stand-in to the stand-in (^*), has got two awards too, against India and Pakistan. James Anderson got an award against Pakistan. Our protagonist hasn't stepped up on the podium to receive his champagne for his individual performance for over a year now.

Update:
I just realized he was, in fact, referring to test cricket. In England's 14 tests beginning from last year's Ashes, Andrew Flintoff has been man of the match thrice, at Edgbaston, Trent Bridge and Mumbai. Pietersen was man of the match at The Oval and Edgbaston. Hoggard was man of the match at Nagpur.

I think it's easy for him to ask the younger blokes to step up, when the likes of Trescothick, Strauss and Harmison have got nowhere near the podium.

Remember, Trescothick would have been England's second choice skipper in India. Flintoff was next in the pecking order.