Strong England win in Cape Town
Kevin Pietersen won the man of the match award for his 79
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Thursday, 13, Sep 2007 04:36
A 37-ball 79 from Kevin Pietersen helped England get their World Twenty20 campaign off to a strong start in Cape Town, beating Zimbabwe by 50 runs.
After Paul Collingwood won the toss his side's strong batting line-up amassed 188-9 from their 20 overs.
Darren Maddy hit two fours at the top of the order before departing on 14, but England's other Twenty20 batting experiment – Luke Wright coming in at number three – fell disappointingly for a golden duck.
Matt Prior (20) and Pietersen smashed 31 runs from their 2.5 over partnership before the latter was joined by Collingwood for what turned out to be a match-winning stand.
The pair put on 100 runs from just nine overs, at a run rate of 11.11 an over, to frustrate Zimbabwe's fielding efforts. England's final score might have been greater had the stand not ended on 151-4 with Pietersen's dismissal.
Collingwood hit 37 before eventually being run out and further cameos from Andrew Flintoff (a run-a-ball 13) and Owais Shah (11 off eight balls) helped England to an imposing total.
Zimbabwe faltered after an initial good start in reply.
Brendan Taylor, yesterday's hero against Australia, followed up with a 39-ball 47 and looked in good company as he put on 74 for the first wicket with Vusi Sibanda (29).
But a collapse in the second half of the innings suddenly thwarted Zimbabwe's chances as the required run-rate quickly accelerated.
Mascarenhas' 3-18 and Schofield's 2-15 did the damage, reducing Zimbabwe to a desperate 89-5 from which they never recovered.