Kevin Pietersen
Kevin Pietersen's maiden outing as one-day captain against South Africa went the same way as his Test bow as England won the NatWest Series opener by 20 runs at Headingley.
Pietersen turned in a man-of-the-match display in the day-nighter, hitting an unbeaten 90, claiming two wickets with his off-spin and playing his part in the run out of Jacques Kallis.
Having led England to a Test win over the South Africans earlier this month, Pietersen made it two victories in as many attempts since taking on the dual leadership role. Recalled fast bowler Steve Harmison chipped in with two wickets as England comfortably defended their 275 for four, which also included 78 from Andrew Flintoff.
Any worries about the captaincy affecting Pietersen’s performance were lifted by a brilliant century at the Oval and underlined even more emphatically on Friday with a brilliant 90 off 82 balls to rescue England from a pedestrian start to their innings and reach 274 for four.
His performance with the ball, however, was even more unexpected and he helped remove three of South Africa's key batsmen - Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers and Mark Boucher - with his under-used off-spin just as the tourists looked on course to complete a convincing triumph.
Pietersen's display masked another worrying start to the innings by England, who were only rescued by a brilliant 158-run stand off 129 balls between the new captain and all-rounder Andrew Flintoff that made amends for a desperately slow start.
At 113 for three in the 29th over when Flintoff joined his new captain at the crease, England were in danger of subsiding to a modest total if their two big-hitters were also unable to break South Africa's stranglehold.
Flintoff, without a half-century since hitting an unbeaten 72 against New Zealand at Hobart 22 one-day internationals ago, ended that sequence by reaching a superb 78 off 70 balls including nine fours before being bowled by Steyn in the final over of the innings.
Facing a competitive target, South Africa approached their chase in a vastly different manner to England's with openers Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith racing to a 50 partnership in only eight overs.
Continuing the theme of his captaincy, however, Pietersen's decision to remove James Anderson from the attack after his first three overs cost 18 runs and replace him with Harmison earned immediate rewards.
Two years after conceding 97 runs off 10 overs in his previous England one-day appearance at Headingley against Sri Lanka, this time Harmison found his rhythm from the start and struck with his fourth ball to have Smith caught behind.
Inevitably, though, Pietersen made the biggest impact and after bringing himself on as part of a spin partnership with Patel, induced De Villiers into a clip to mid-wicket and provoked enough panic for Kallis to run himself out after hitting 52 off 69 balls.
Any hopes of a South African recovery were ended with Boucher, one of the cleanest hitters in their side, being stumped pushing forward to Pietersen to effectively settle the outcome as South Africa's innings capitulated with the rising run-rate to 255 all out.
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