CRICKET ONE-DAY INTERNATIONALKEVIN PIETERSEN'S march up the Yellow Brick Road towards Oz continues unchecked. South Africa, well beaten at Headingley and humiliated at Trent Bridge, were rarely in the third match at The Oval yesterday as England wrapped up the five-match series by 126 runs.
Winning the toss and putting England in, the visitors saw an incendiary start of 101 inside 16 overs. Ian Bell, who went on to score 73, and Matt Prior, with 33, provided the firm foundations of a competitive total of 296.
Andrew Flintoff continued his return to form with an unbeaten run-a-ball 78. That he managed the second half of his innings with a thumping headache after being hit on the temple by Morne Morkel would merely reinforce his sense of capturing the glorious past - he cannot have felt like that since the morning after his Trafalgar Square heroics.
South Africa's reply was flatter than a motorway hedgehog as England bowled with the urgency and discipline lacking in their opponents and fielded with the sharpness of a sucked lemon. The tourists were behind the clock virtually from the start and lost wickets regularly, never gaining the momentum to put together the partnerships they needed.
By halfway all purpose had disappeared and with it interest. Inside 43 overs they were all out for 170, following on from the 83 at Trent Bridge.
It is of course easy when things are going well but Pietersen must take credit for enthusing his team and for the boldness of selection which has seen the return of Steve Harmison, to bowl the middle overs in harness with Flintoff, and the introduction of Samit Patel, who made 31 and took five for 41.
On pitches largely conducive to their strengths, the four-man pace attack has operated with vigour and a welcome simplicity - rigid line, repetitive length. Perhaps on flatter pitches that might allow batsmen to premeditate but here it enables the captain to set fields accordingly.
Pietersen also appears to have the happy knack of a proactive captain, acting not so much by instinct as straightforward cricketing nous and reading of the game. He has been helped by a South African team who, having achieved their primary objective of winning the Test series, have deflated like last week's party balloons. It would be unfair to say that they are going through the motions but the trip has taken its toll.
They need to get home now and regroup before the challenge of Australia away and home before next spring.
Guardian Service
