England seal first win of KP era

Kevin Pietersen made a winning start to his Test captaincy as England defeated South Africa by six wickets at the Brit Oval.

Openers Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss hit half-centuries as England reached their 197-run target at 3.16pm on the fifth day.

Although South Africa take the npower series 2-1, it was a positive start to the Pietersen era.

After Cook and Strauss shared 123 runs for the first wicket, England endured a mini-slump to 147 for three with both openers and Ian Bell departing in a seven-over period.

That set the stage for Pietersen, whose first-innings hundred helped open up an advantage in the contest, to take his team home.

But there were still 15 runs needed when an inside edge onto pad from Pietersen gave left-arm spinner Paul Harris a second success.

Despite only 11 runs coming from the initial 11 overs of the innings, England's scoring rate exploded thereafter amid concerns that wet weather would blow back into the capital this afternoon.

All-rounder Andrew Flintoff finished the contest in style with a straight six off Harris.