England's bold decision to put the South African-born Kevin Pietersen in charge of all three of their international cricket teams is paying dividends in spades. There were apprehensions that the flamboyant, occasionally cavalier, but always entertaining batsman might withdraw into a defensive shell of uncertainty under the burden of taking over a team, low on morale after Michael Vaughan's resignation.
But those fears have been cast aside by the brilliance of Pietersen's start to his new job. An encouraging victory in the final Test - admittedly a dead rubber with the series already lost - against Graeme Smith's touring South Africans was followed late on Friday night with a welcome win by 20 runs in the first of a series of five one-day internationals. Pietersen not only top-scored with 90 runs, but produced a decisive spell as a part-time bowler and demonstrated an ability to react positively to potentially negative situations to earn precious breathing space if, as they often do with England, things start to go wrong.
That is why Pietersen refuses to go overboard in the celebrations that signalled the end of a 10-match winning streak of the talented South African team. The new captain is mindful that a string of bright starts have been followed by catastrophes galore on the one-day stage. "There is some really positive stuff happening in English cricket at the moment, but we start every series well and then mess the next four up," said Pietersen.
"There is no point in resting on our laurels. It is a case of building on it so the second match on Tuesday at Trent Bridge is a big fixture for us. Everybody performed today and if that continues, we will be a pretty hard team to beat." The encouraging thing about Pietersen for England fans is that his success as an individual appears to be infectious. He was the prime mover behind the recall of Steve Harmison, once the world's top-ranked fast bowler, to the international scene.
The Durham paceman has responded magnificently to his chance to make a comeback with a significant contribution in the Test match and then agreed to Pietersen's request to reverse a decision to retire from one-day cricket. Andrew Flintoff also appears to be revelling in taking instructions from Pietersen, who described his equally charismatic colleague as a "superstar" afterwards. Flintoff, England's biggest hero in the euphoric Ashes conquest of Australia in 2005, but injured and out of form for much of the intervening period, is looking more and more like the match winner he undoubtedly is, under the new regime.
The Lancashire all-rounder accompanied his captain in what turned out to be a decisive fourth wicket partnership of 158 runs when England batted first and then ripped through the South African tail to ensure that his team's total of 275 was never seriously threatened. That respectable total did at one stage look like being overhauled, however, until Pietersen took matters into his own hands. He took the ball from his more experienced teammates and, within a few minutes, knocked the South Africans out of their swaggering run chase.
Lucky, maybe, but the best captains invariably are lucky ones. @Email:wjohnson@thenational.ae
