Cricket: Kevin Pietersen began his first innings as captain with a number of boundaries as England attempted to overcome an early setback on the second day of the final Test at the Oval.
England's 78th Test captain quickly hit his stride after Ian Bell had fallen to the fourth ball of the day to undermine England's hopes of building a major total having dismissed South Africa for a lowly 194 on the opening day.
Pietersen quickly latched onto Makhaya Ntini, walking across his stumps to whip him through mid-wicket for his first boundary and then driving down the ground for another later in the same over.
He also responded to Morne Morkel's attempts to exploit the bouncy Oval surface by banging the ball in short, hooking for a boundary backward of square and then pulling through mid-wicket from his next ball.
Even a change of bowling with captain Graeme Smith bringing on all-rounder Jacques Kallis to replace Morkel from the Pavilion End failed to change the tourists' luck with Pietersen clipping his second ball for another midwicket boundary.
His dominance was in stark contrast to the start of the day, which was delayed by half an hour by rain, when Bell fell in the first over to Ntini.
Having been promoted to his favoured No 3 position, Bell had looked comfortable the previous evening to reach an unbeaten 22 to help England reach a comfortable 49 for one.
But he added only two more runs before pushing defensively outside off-stump and edging low to Smith, who took a low catch diving to his right at first slip.
Opener Alastair Cook, who resumed on 20 overnight, had progressed slowly to an unbeaten 34 while Pietersen quickly reached an unbeaten 23 with half an hour to go before lunch.