Kevin Pietersen: Sky's the limit for England

By Giles Mole and agencies

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Kevin Pietersen has said England will continue to improve after they claimed first blood against New Zealand with a 32-run victory in the opening Twenty20 clash.

Scoreboard: New Zealand v England, Twenty20

Report: England thrash Black Caps in Twenty20

England's total of 184 for eight was driven by Pietersen's 43 and a rapid 31 from Dimitri Mascarenhas, who hit four sixes in succession off Jeetan Patel.

	Impetus: Kevin Pietersen's innings gave England a promising start

New Zealand never looked like reaching their tricky target of 185 to win as Ryan Sidebottom's three wickets and two from Mascarenhas pegged them back to 152 all out.

It was a welcome boost to Peter Moores' squad after a poor Test series defeat in Sri Lanka before Christmas.

Pietersen said: "Sri Lanka was hard, it was a real tough tour for the team and we were looking to get off to a winning start tonight because we didn't play as well as we can in Sri Lanka.

"The guys are up for it. We've trained as hard as England ever have. We just want to get better as a team and as individuals.

"As long as we keep performing as we have done and keep getting better then the sky's the limit for this young side."

England captain Paul Collingwood was especially delighted with his team's impressive bowling performance.

He said: "We did a lot of good things today and could have got a few more runs. But it was still a good total and the bowlers were fantastic.

"We didn't perform too well in the World Cup and this was of massive importance to us.

"It's a really good, positive start to the tour but we have to keep that up."

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One swallow doth not a summer make-Kevin.
Posted by Phil on February 5, 2008 1:58 PM
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balshaw should be congratulated for doing exactly what was predicted---loosing the match for england

his reward should at least be the captaincy and an immdediate switch to fly half so that he can orchestrate the england back line----also keep a watching brief on the forwards

come on ashton let this incredible talent have it's head---dont't hide him away at full back where he has proved that he needs much more involvement to really show us all how to play top class international rugby
Posted by richard jan on February 5, 2008 1:36 PM
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