Essex all-rounder Ravi Bopara was delighted to claim the scalp of his former England team-mate Kevin Pietersen in Friday night's NatWest T20 Blast encounter with Surrey.
Bopara took to Twitter before the game to warn Pietersen that he would "not hear the end of it" if he was able to take his wicket on Pietersen's return to English cricket.
It was Pietersen's first game for Surrey since his well-documented issues with the national team during the winter, and all eyes were on him when he strode to the middle on Friday night.
But he managed just five from seven balls before chipping his eighth – bowled by Bopara – straight to Eagles skipper Ryan ten Doeschate at long-on.
And Bopara said: "It's all fun and games with Kev. I've been quite good mates with Kev for a long time now, so it was just a bit of fun and games before the big game.
"We always have a bit of banter, he likes to get stuck into me every now and then and I like to get stuck into him.
"Luckily I got the better of him on Friday and it was enjoyable.
"When it went up in the air I thought "please don't go for six"!
"He only tapped it, so if he had gone through with it it probably would've been out of the Oval."
