Kevin Pietersen (born 1980) is an English cricketer. He is an attacking right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who plays for Hampshire County Cricket Club, England, and was captain of the Indian Premier League team Royal Challengers Bangalore. He was captain of the England Test and One Day International teams from 4 August 2008 to 7 January 2009. He resigned after just three tests and nine One Day Internationals, following a dispute with England coach Peter Moores, who was sacked the same day. He made his first-class debut for Natal in 1997 before moving to England after voicing his displeasure at the racial quota system in place in South Africa, and to further his opportunities for playing at international level. He made his international debut in the One Day International match against Zimbabwe in 2004, and his Test match debut in the 2005 Ashes series against Australia the following year. Pietersen became the fastest batsman to reach both 1000 and 2000 runs in One Day International cricket, and has the highest average of any England player to have played more than 20 innings of one-day cricket. In July 2008, after a century against South Africa, The Times called him "the most complete batsman in cricket".

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Pietersen

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1579:

Our Lady of Kazan , a holy icon of the Russian Orthodox Church, was discovered underground in Kazan, present-day Tatarstan, Russia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Kazan

1709:

Great Northern War: Peter I of Russia defeated Charles XII of Sweden in Poltava, Ukraine, effectively ending Sweden's role as a major power in Europe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Poltava

1859:

Charles XV became King of Sweden and Norway following the death of his father Oscar I. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_XV_of_Sweden

1947:

After various news agencies reported the capture of a "flying disc" by U.S. Air Force personnel from the Roswell Army Air Field in Roswell, New Mexico, the U.S. Military issued another press release maintaining that what was actually recovered was debris from an experimental high-altitude surveillance weather balloon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_Incident

2004:

After a 19-month trial, U.S. Marine Corps Major Michael Brown was convicted by a court in Naha, Okinawa for an attempted indecent assault on a Filipina bartender. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Brown_Okinawa_assault_incident

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

oilskin (n): 1. Cloth made from cotton and treated with oil and pigment to make it waterproof.

2. A raincoat made from cotton fabric treated this way. 3. (by extension) Foul-weather gear worn by sailors, whether of natural or synthetic materials http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/oilskin

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

As far as service goes, it can take the form of a million things. To do service, you don't have to be a doctor working in the slums for free, or become a social worker. Your position in life and what you do doesn't matter as much as how you do what you do. --Elisabeth Kübler-Ross http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elisabeth_K%C3%BCbler-Ross