A storm was brewing behind the scenes. But that didn’t stop Kevin Pietersen from producing one of the knocks of the decade.

Kevin Pietersen 149 (214 balls, 22 fours, one six)

England v South Africa

Leeds

Second Test, South Africa’s tour of England

August 2-6, 2012

The innings

“At Headingley I was incredibly fragile and emotional,” Kevin Pietersen later wrote in his 2014 autobiography. “This could be my last Test match, I kept telling myself.” He played like a man at the end (even if it wasn’t), nothing left to lose, one last dance to see himself out. But he was a man hurting. The Twitter parody account called KP Genius had others laughing, but not him. Instead, there were tears on day two “in front of Andy Flower of all people”. What do we really see when we look out to the middle? We see the bat prod forward, the ball fly past. We can’t see inside, understand the hopes and fears of the actors at play. We can’t see their fragility, and bar the celebration of landmarks, to gauge emotion is a tough ask, too. In hindsight, it’s easy to see anger in the pull off Morkel, the front foot giving way to let him take on the beanpole quick from around the wicket. There’s a ‘whatever, it’s my last Test’ quality to the drives through cover, the hands doing far more than the feet.