The former England bowler, and Pietersen’s team-mate in two Ashes series, said that the Surrey batsman’s ability to clear the infield during the powerplay overs could make him a shrewd choice at the top of the order.
England have confirmed that Pietersen will open with Andrew Strauss for England’s opening World Cup group game against Holland on Tuesday. It will be the first time that he has opened the innings for England in any form of international cricket.
For Pietersen, the move brings him almost full circle. He first came to England’s attention when he scored 61 from 57 balls batting at No 9 for KwaZulu Natal against Nasser Hussain’s tourists a decade ago.
“It’s an experimental move that could be worth a shot,” Hoggard said in an exclusive interview with Telegraph Sport.
“He’s a very destructive batter, and you know that if he bats for 50 overs there’s going to be a big score at the end of it. If he can get back to his destructive best then he’s going to take some stopping.”
Hoggard, who played 26 one-day internationals between 2001 and 2006 and was in the squad for the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, also believes that the surprise element of Pietersen’s sudden promotion could be a factor in its success.
“KP has always said that he can’t just go out and slog, he actually needs to build an innings. You could say it’s a lack of foresight, but it could be a little bit of genius,” he said.
“Nobody’s going to think of KP opening the batting. Teams are going to have to think on their feet. I’m sure it’s a plan that hasn’t just come out of nowhere. If it comes off they’re going to look absolutely fantastic. But if it doesn’t, questions will be asked.”
Pietersen said after the warm-up victory over Canada in Bangladesh on Wednesday that he had a “nice little feeling” about the role, and Hoggard believed that despite the failure of other established middle-order batsmen, such as Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid, to make a similar impact at the top of the order in the 50-over game, Pietersen had the game to make the tactic work.
“Kevin Pietersen is the kind of batter who will relish the role,” Hoggard said. “He’ll have had a big say in where he bats. If KP wants to bat at No 1 and he can get himself into any kind of form, then it’s going to be very difficult to stop him in the powerplays. He can hit the ball 360 degrees. There’s not a shot in the book that he can’t play.
“The big factor is where you put your two fielders. Do you try and go full and straight to start off with? If you get it wrong it’s going to whistle through the covers at an alarming rate of knots. You can’t really bowl it outside his off stump, because he’ll come across the stumps to hit you.
“It’s going to cause some opening bowlers a lot of headaches.”
When asked whether the prospect of bowling at Pietersen with the new ball would have worried him, Hoggard replied: “Every batter worried me.”
Matthew Hoggard was speaking on behalf of ESPNcricinfo.com, which is delivering multi-platform coverage of the ICC Cricket World Cup.
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