Kevin Pietersen was a batter who didn’t need to hone his game in first-class cricket to prepare for the white heat of a Test match. He was almost the invisible man at Hampshire, where he nominally spent six seasons as a player between 2005 and 2010 but made just seven County Championship appearances. Sir Alastair Cook, meanwhile, was an opener who needed time at the crease to be able to go out and do what he did so successfully throughout his ca…