England focused on success

Paul Collingwood found some batting form, making 64 on his Durham home ground

Luke Wright revealed England’s determination to build on their Twenty20 performance against New Zealand after their 114-run victory in the opening match of the NatWest Series.

The home side took their dominance over the hapless tourists into the 50-over arena, a far cry from their winter one-day display against the same opponents when they lost the series following similar Twenty20 successes.

Opener Wright, who made 11 in England’s total of 307 for five and was one of the few home batsmen who failed to shine, said: “We said we wanted to back up what we did in the Twenty20, not obviously follow what happened in New Zealand so we’re really chuffed with that.

“We’re obviously very disappointed what happened in New Zealand but we feel like we’ve got a good set of lads together and there’s a lot of team spirit in there. Everyone’s fired up wanting to do well.”

Despite struggling today at the top of the order, Wright is determined to be a success in the role.

He said: “I hope so. I could do with a few runs if I want to keep doing it but I’d love to have a long go and hopefully next game, I’ll score some runs.

“I’m very happy opening the batting. It’s something I really want to do. Whether I open or bat in the middle order, I’m happy. It’s just learning as I go and keep trying to improve.”

Kevin Pietersen claimed the man-of-the-match award after top-scoring with a sublime 110 from 112 balls, his first one-day century on English soil.

He revealed he was extra motivated to reach three figures after examining his record.

“I had a look at my stats yesterday lunchtime with the coach. I saw I was averaging 30 in England and 60 away from home,” Pietersen said.

“It is about time and what a better day than today.”

Pietersen, who bats lower down the order in Tests, is relishing his promotion to number three in the shorter forms of the game.

“This is a new challenge,” he said. “It’s come to the fore and here I am at three with a hundred under my belt.”

His innings included two extraordinary left-handed sixes and he revealed it is a ploy he works hard at.

“It’s something that I definitely practise and it’s shots like that I visualise,” he said.

“I could easily have hit it up in the air and got out but it worked for me today.”

He rejected suggestions the tactic should be banned, joking: “If you’re playing right-handed, there’s no way you should be smacking left-handed.

“You shouldn’t be hitting it for six.”

Kevin Pietersen defended his tactic to swap hands to play a reverse-sweep shot - something he did twice

England captain Paul Collingwood led the tributes to Pietersen, and said: “KP’s innings was just something phenomenal today. To be hitting the shots that he was, on what was a tricky wicket at times, it was a great total for us.”

He added of his side’s display: “We’re looking for consistency in the one-day side and today we put in a near-perfect performance again.

“The boys are really switched on at the moment and it’s great to see.”

Durham star Collingwood came into the match struggling for form with the bat but found his form with 64 from 64 balls.

“Nice to get a few runs, obviously on my home ground as well,” he explained.

“I hadn’t scored a run this season. It’s nice to come home on to a wicket I know.

“It’s nice to get that first boundary away. Once I got up and running, I felt comfortable again.”

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori, who won the toss, admitted they allowed England too big a total.

“When you put a team in, you want to restrict them to a score of around 250, I suppose,” he said.

“It doesn’t really matter what you do with the toss here. You have to bowl well and unfortunately we didn’t do that today.”

Vettori was also awe-struck by Pietersen’s imagination with the bat, saying: “They’re pretty amazing shots. It’s hard to know what to say.

“Kevin was almost unstoppable at that stage.”