Nothing but the best for Pietersen

Kevin Pietersen spends a long time in the nets trying to improve his game technique

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Kevin Pietersen has set his England team the challenge of surpassing Ashes rivals Australia as the best one-day team in the world.

Pietersen’s appointment as England captain has coincided with their most authoritative displays in recent memory and, having sealed NatWest Series success over South Africa, they can now go second in the official limited-overs rankings.

Victories in the final two matches of the campaign, starting at Lord’s tomorrow, will see South Africa displaced as Australia’s nearest rivals.

England, as low as seventh earlier this year, rose to fourth place with their latest commanding win over the Proteas, by 126 runs at the Brit Oval.

“It’s something we want to strive for,” said Pietersen. “We always said we wanted to be the best team in the world.

“Our goal now is to make sure the guys don’t talk about their talent but they deliver their talent.”

Pietersen, 28, has used his own hard-work ethic - he is a net addict - as the model for team success.

And it is certainly bearing fruit in his maiden series since succeeding joint leaders Michael Vaughan and Paul Collingwood at the helm.

“I just want the guys to do as much as they can and to deliver, deliver, deliver,” Pietersen said.

“There is a lot of mediocrity that people settle for in this country, in terms of county cricket. I am not one for settling for mediocrity.

“I want to get better and better and better every single time I practise. Then you can entertain when you go out because you know you have done the hard yards before.”

Pietersen appears a natural winner - his record of four out of four successes captaining against the country of his birth backs that up - and he is now trying to infect the rest of the team with his attitude.

Pietersen's can-do attitude has rubbed off on the whole team

“It’s just built in me,” he said. “As a kid I always wanted to be the best, to win everything at school. I don’t like coming second, so I will do anything to win if it’s fair and it’s legal.”

It was South Africa who went into the NatWest Series engagement with upwardly-mobile thoughts and would have moved top with a 4-1 triumph.

But two of their biggest defeats this decade - they lost by 10 wickets at Trent Bridge on Tuesday - has altered the respective moods in the two camps.

“It would be brilliant,” Pietersen said, of the potential whitewash. “The effect it has had on the team right now is amazing. A score of 3-0 is an absolute thrashing.

“The way we have done it is so convincing, we haven’t looked like losing, that’s the best thing about it.

“Whether it is 3-2, 4-1 or 5-0, the guys in that dressing room know we have cleaned South Africa up, which is remarkable.

“A series win is a series win and the guys will take a lot of encouragement from this to wherever we go from here.

“The bowling unit is 100 per cent the strongest I’ve played with for England.

“The batting department - if we had Marcus Trescothick at the top of the order that could strengthen our side - but as far as I see it, to beat South Africa 3-0, the second-ranked side in the world, it’s a pretty special team we’ve got going.”

Pietersen himself has also altered his outlook following his one match in temporary charge against New Zealand.

“I took it a bit too seriously,” said Pietersen, of his Lord’s loss. “I let it affect me as a person. I ran around the field and I was really unsure about certain things and how to handle it.

“Because I thought ’I’ve got 24 hours in the job, I have got to deliver here’ I put so much pressure on myself. Since I took the job over, I have thought ’just do your best, trust your gut’.

“My gut instinct has been pretty good over the years that I’ve played the game.”