Pietersen Summits New Peak

Pietersen - enjoyed 'spectacular' outing.

Kevin Pietersen's emphatic start to his reign as England captain reached a new peak today with a 10-wicket thrashing of South Africa at Trent Bridge.

Only England's third such victory margin put them 2-0 up in the NatWest Series and, to make matters worse for the tourists, captain Graeme Smith is an injury doubt for Friday's third match of five.

Stuart Broad claimed a maiden five-wicket haul in one-day internationals to set up the rout, after the South Africans won the toss, backed up by Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison.

South Africa were blitzed in just 23 overs and England openers Matt Prior and Ian Bell rushed to their 84-run target before the floodlights were switched on.

"It was spectacular," said Pietersen, who has three wins in as many outings as captain against South Africa.

"A remarkable victory and one to be enjoyed because to be totally honest we are always on the receiving end of thrashings like that.

"In the four or five years I have played one-day internationals we have not hammered a team as convincingly as that before.

"There's an energy and a buzz about us."

That has proved quite a contrast to the mood earlier this month when the South Africans sealed the Test series and Michael Vaughan and Paul Collingwood relinquished their captaincy positions.

"The way the guys have turned themselves around has been remarkable," said Pietersen.

"Really exceptional. But I think I am in a fortunate position to have four bowlers bowling at 90 miles per hour - and I am sure if previous captains had them firing on all cylinders at the start of their campaign, or whenever it was, I am sure they would have been alright."

Broad's spell of 10-3-23-5 from the pavilion end left the South African innings in tatters at 53 for seven.

"It is great being a part of this bowling unit," he said, after being named man of the match.

"You have got the knowledge and experience of Fred and Harmy who are always passing it on and it's thoroughly enjoyable.

"The wicket had some bounce in it from a good length, it didn't have demons in it but the nicks went for us and we took our catches."

Proteas captain Smith, who was spectacularly held as the second of wicketkeeper Prior's six catches, admitted it was his lowest ebb away from a major tournament exit and that he was struggling to marshal a fightback at the Brit Oval on Friday due to a bout of tennis elbow.

"We need to make these decisions," said Smith, of his injury.

"It is reaching the point right now for me - I probably shouldn't have played in this game - where we look to the medical team and see if we can come up with something."

The South Africans could have returned to the top of the official one-day rankings with a 4-1 triumph here but were a pale shadow of such a side and were booed off by the Nottingham crowd.

"It was expected," Smith conceded.

"When you play like we did today - people paid a lot of money for the tickets and they would have been very disappointed there wasn't a better game.

"Obviously losing World Cup semi-finals is bad but outside that it has to be the worst in terms of the way we lost, the way things happened today.

"We came off such a high in the Test series, some of the best moments in my career and this is right down there in terms of the lowest.

"We have to regroup pretty quickly, take this blow on the chin, come back from it and play our kind of cricket.

"Your confidence can take a big dent when you lose like this.

"We have to look at ourselves and match an England team that we have matched many times since I have been involved in this set-up."

England are firmly in the ascendancy and need to win just one of the final three matches to seal a surprise series success.

But Pietersen said: "I just like to concentrate on what we do and on what we do well.

"At the moment we're turning up for training sessions on form, on time and hammering the training session out.

"That is the important thing to me: the recipe for success is the work you put in before matches and every single guy is turning up doing that in those sessions.

"The key for us is not for any of us to gob off about anything because we haven't won anything yet.

"Our main goal is to win the series and our team is performing to the level they should be doing."