South Africa win despite third Pietersen try

Agence France Presse

Centurion, February 13:

England batsman Kevin Pietersen hit his third century of the series but it was not enough to stop a South African win in the seventh and final ODI at Centurion Park.

Pietersen hammered 116 off 110 balls to enable England to reach 240 all out after they had been floundering at 68 for six.

Ashwell Prince then made a solid 62 not out as South Africa won by three wickets to clinch the seven-match contest 4-1. One match was tied and one rained out.

Pietersen’s one-man assault on the South African bowlers earned him the man of the series award despite his team winning only one match. He thrashed 454 runs in six innings. The next highest scorer for England was captain Michael Vaughan with 159.

South Africa start a home series against Zimbabwe later this month before leaving for a tour of the West Indies next month.

Smith won the toss and sent England in to bat. The tourists crumbled to 68 for six before Piet-ersen and Giles came together in a seventh wicket stand of 104. He was relatively subdued as he and Giles dug England out of trouble. It took him 72 balls to score his first 33 runs but he switched back into the bludgeoning mode which has characterised his performances in South Africa when he hit Nicky Boje for two sixes over midwicket in three balls.

Giles made a career-best 41 before Kabir Ali, who made a breezy 25, shared a 53-run stand with Pietersen for the eighth wicket off only 27 balls.

South Africa always seemed in control during the run chase as Smith and Hall put on 46 for the first wicket and Smith and Jacques Kallis added 60 for second wicket.

Smith and Kallis were out in successive overs but Prince and Mark Boucher shared a fifth wicket stand of 70. There was a flurry of wickets towards the end before Prince hit the winning runs with an over to spare.