Phenomenal is how skipper Paul Collingwood described Kevin Pietersen's innings after England's 114-run rout of New Zealand on Sunday.
Skipper happy to be back in the runs
'Phenomenal' is how skipper Paul Collingwood described Kevin Pietersen's innings following England's 114-run rout of New Zealand in the opening match of the one day series on Sunday.
Pietersen claimed the man-of-the-match award after scoring a sublime and audacious 110 from 112 balls, including two extraordinary left-handed sixes.
"KP's innings was just something phenomenal today," Collingwood said.
"To be hitting the shots that he was, on what was a tricky wicket at times, it was a great total for us."
New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori was also awe-struck by Pietersen's imagination with the bat.
He said: "They're pretty amazing shots. It's hard to know what to say. Kevin was almost unstoppable at that stage."
Dominant
Pietersen revealed he was extra motivated to reach his first one-day century on English soil after examining his record yesterday.
"I had a look at my stats yesterday lunchtime with the coach," he said.
"I saw I was averaging 30 in England and 60 away from home. It is about time and what a better day than today."
England were completely dominant, hitting 307 for five in their 50 overs before dismissing the tourists for 193.
The result was a far cry from their winter one-day display against the Black Caps when they lost the series following similar Test and Twenty20 successes.
Collingwood, who struck 64 from 64 balls and took four wickets, described his side's performance as 'near perfect'.
Consistency
He added: "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. Nice to get a few runs, obviously on my home ground as well..
"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."
Vettori, who won the toss, admitted the Black Caps 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."
