Kevin Pietersen redeemed his batting form to pilot England to a face-savingthree-wicket win against the West Indies in their final encounter of theChampions Trophy today.
Pietersen hammered an unbeaten 90 to lead England's successful chase of WestIndies' challenging total of 272 for four in the Group A encounter under lightsat Motera's Sardar Patel Stadium.
Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell set the platform for Pietersen with identicalscores of 50 each while featuring in an opening stand of 82 runs.
England suffered a minor setback when they lost captain Andrew Flintoff (25)and Paul Collingwood (0) in quick succession, but Pietersen nursed the middleand lower order to give them a much needed triumph.
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It was, however, a pyrrhic win for England as they were already out of thereckoning after losing their first two matches against India and Australia.
The Caribbeans were already assured of a berth in the semi-final but whetherthey finish atop or second in the group remains yet to be decided.
That line-up will be confirmed after the league engagements are wrapped upwith the match between Australia and India at Mohali tomorrow.
The West Indies owed their total to fluent centuries from Dwayne Bravo andChris Gayle.
There was no let up in the Caribbean aggression as Bravo (112 not out) andGayle (101) set England a target with an asking rate of 5.46.
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Twenty-three-year old Bravo got to his maiden ODI hundred off 117 balls whileGayle completed his second century of the tournament as the duo put on 174 runsfor the second wicket to set the perfect launcing pad for a late assault.
Ramnaresh Sarwan scored a quickfire 29 of 19 balls and added 50 runs for thethird wicket with Bravo.
The England run chase got off to a flier, with Strauss letting loose abarrage of strokes, paying scant respect to any of the young Caribbean pacers,who are being spoken of in glowing terms of late.
The 29-year-old left hander warmed up for the assault by sending JeromeTaylor to the fine leg fence, and followed up with another exquisite cover driveas the over produced a dozen runs.
The Middlesex willower then cut Fidel Edwards to the ropes and smashed CoreyCollymore through the extra cover and backward point to carry the battle intothe rival camp.
England reached 50 in the seventh over, with the other opener Bell exhibitingsweet timing to find the gap between cover and point.
Strauss got a 'life' in the 10th over when he was dropped by Gayle offCollymore, before racing to his half-century of 46 balls.
Gayle, however, made amends soon after as an exasperated West Indies captainBrian Lara brought him into the attack.
The part-time spinner, who finished with 3-31, got rid of the dangerouslooking Strauss as the batsman played all over a skidding delivery and saw hisbells dislodged.
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Flintoff and Bell played sensibly to carry England to the three-digit mark inthe 17th over.
The England captain switched to his aggressive mode in the 19th over,punishing Taylor with three wonderfully struck boundaries.
England were scoring at more than a run a ball, but Gayle played spoilsportyet again, with a double wicket in the 21st over.
Flintoff (25) was gone stepping out to lift Gayle, and holing out to Taylorin the deep, bringing the 44 run partnership to an end.
Collingwood (0) departed two balls later, poking at a ball spinning away andBravo accepted the offering in the slip.
Bell reached his 50 with a glanced single.
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The right hander was, however, not destined to last longer. Petersen pushedto mid-wicket, and the batsmen scampered to exchange places, but Bell was runout by a direct throw from Lara.
Michael Yardy (10) became the victim of a dubious umpiring decision, astelevision replays showed Bravo taking a bump catch off Marlon Samuels, asEngland found half their side back in the pavilion for 180 in the 38th over.
England looked headed for their third straight defeat with the loss ofwickets.
But Pietersen led the middle order resurgence with a calculated knock thatcontained nine fours and a six from 86 balls.
PTI
