KEY POINTS:
Baseball's switch hitter has arrived in cricket, and it was only a matter of when, not if.
And thousands of dads who have schooled their boys in "forward defensive, bat-and-pad-close-together, son" will be throwing their hands up in horror.
When righthanded Kevin Pietersen twice turned about in his
stance to club Scott Styris lefthanded for sixes to what had become mid-wicket in England's 114-run romp in the opening ODI in Durham last Monday, it was certainly a step up from the reverse sweep.
But why the big deal? Why did the International Cricket Council deem it a worrying enough development to ask the MCC, guardians of the rules of the game, to deliberate on its legality?
Beats me, apart from the thought that as it had not specifically been written in the Laws of Cricket - "a batsman may swap sides and bat cack-handed as the bowler delivers the ball" or some such - the ICC felt it warranted a get together at HQ.
After giving it due weighty consideration, the MCC gave Pietersen, and everyone else who tries it, the green light, the accompanying statement saying it added excitement to the game.
"I have spent many hours in the nets working on it and I am pleased that all the hard work is not going to waste," Pietersen said. Good for him.
Switch hitters have always been part of baseball. Mickey Mantle was belting home runs at Yankee Stadium from both sides of the plate 50 years ago.
You could argue Pietersen didn't need to extend his repertoire against the limp bowling attack confronting him at Durham. Then again, what better chance to try out his new stuff?
This is no more than a natural extension of a batsman making use of his footwork, terrific hand-eye co-ordination and being quick enough to recognise when pies are being delivered to take his chances.
This switcheroo began with the reverse sweep. The most famous was in the 1987 World Cup final and it cost the England captain his wicket, was the turning point in his team losing the match, and earned the skipper a 'Gatt You Prat' tabloid headline back home.
We're told often enough you can't stop the march of progress, be it drivers to propel a golf ball like a rocket, Formula One cars which are more like jet-fuelled mobile computers, or swimsuits which seem to make the setting of world records in the pool as easy as eating breakfast.
The purists won't like it, but this is man-made, no mechanical aids involved. And where were the guardians when batsmen with imagination discovered the ramp shot to deflect the ball over the wicketkeeper to the one spot never defended on a cricket field? Or front foot flick-sweep over short fine leg?
A small misjudgment with these shots and batsmen will wear a ball between the eyes. It's all about risk and reward, and the Pietersen manoeuvre has a high degree of risk. The potential for earning a place in the cricket halls of plonkerdom is considerable.
Some argue bowlers should be entitled to switch from right to left arm in their delivery stride to match the Pietersen step. The one problem with that is the degree of difficulty.
Try it. Attempt a "Pietersen", then come in off 10 paces switch arms at the last moment, shift your torso 90 degrees and try to get the ball straight on line, without falling on your face.
The New Zealanders have encouraged Pietersen to keep on attempting it. So more power to Pietersen's arms. Others will follow. Don't be surprised to see Brendon McCullum add another shot to his one-day armoury sometime this week.
And sons will be telling their fathers: "It's still batting, Dad. Just not as you know it."
