Kevin Pietersen ensures England avoid embarrassment

England v Scotland: Trent Bridge (Scotland won toss): England beat Scotland by six wickets
England declared most of their hand for the World Twenty20 last night and if Kevin Pietersen was the only ace on display then at least a joker did not upset their pack. They were ultimately too strong for Scotland but, on this evidence, their status down the list of favourites is about right.
Having played his part in an energetic all-round fielding display, Pietersen completed victory with a pulled six to reach his fifty from 39 balls. But he went a bit far in describing England as “on fire”. Paul Collingwood was nearer the mark. “We were satisfactory,” the captain said.
Collingwood believes that a short build-up permits few opportunities to experiment, bad news for Robert Key if he is omitted again for the warm-up against West Indies at Lord's today. A team spokesman said that Graeme Swann is close to recovery from a back problem and that James Anderson's absence, to continuing ankle trouble, was precautionary.
The declared intention to be brave, which has to be the approach for a team with no pedigree in Twenty20, showed itself in the recall and promotion of Luke Wright to open alongside Ravi Bopara, the selection of the bold Eoin Morgan and, in a more subtle way, the choice of Dimitri Mascarenhas rather than Stuart Broad to take the new ball.
England would have preferred to bat first, challenging themselves to estimate and then set a formidable target rather than chase 137 to win. Anything more than 160 would have been challenging on a surface that Gavin Hamilton, the Scotland captain, described as “a semi-decent club pitch with no pace in it”. In that light it came as a scare for England when Bopara and Owais Shah holed out to Majid Haq's off spin from successive balls in the ninth over.
Here were the makings of comic embarrassment: the bulky Haq is a part-time player who works at his father's takeaway restaurant, surprising first-time customers with a thick Glaswegian accent. Scotland were ahead at the 17-over stage before Pietersen, who may not be fully fit but is certainly fit enough, made his quality tell.
Scotland might have struggled to reach three figures but for a stand of 62 in 20 minutes between Colin Smith and Kyle Coetzer. They took a shine to spin and although Adil Rashid turned both leg break and googly, his struggle for length showed how much England need Swann to recover.
Pietersen apart, the best performance came from James Foster, who will be the ninth wicketkeeper used by England in 16 full Twenty20 internationals come Friday. He made a leg-side take standing up to Collingwood appear effortless and was denied a stumping and a run-out by erroneous (though tight) decisions from Amiesh Saheba, the umpire.
Scotland were surprised at the early introduction of Mascarenhas and Broad's strategy in the final over of going around the wicket and creating a sharp angle by aiming outside off stump. Those innovations have now been telegraphed to the opposition but, as Collingwood said, they had to be tested to make sure they work.
“Obviously there are areas where we could have played a bit better,” Collingwood said. “The way that Pietersen took the lead was excellent because it is easy to panic in those situations. We are very much dark horses for the tournament, but I hope that gives the boys more of a licence and freedom.”
Scotland*G M Hamilton c Wright b Rashid 20 D F Watts b Mascarenhas 8 K J Coetzer c Pietersen b Collingwood 34 †C J O Smith c and b Collingwood 45 N F I McCallum run out 16 R R Watson not out 7 J H Stander not out 0 Extras (lb 1, w 5) 6 Total (5 wkts, 20 overs) 136 C M Wright, R M Haq, G D Drummond and C S MacLeod did not bat. Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-41, 3-103, 4-118, 5-136. Bowling: Mascarenhas 4-0-24-1; Sidebottom 4-0-19-0; Broad 4-0-23-0; Rashid 3-0-31-1; Pietersen 2-0-20-0; Collingwood 3-0-18-2. EnglandR S Bopara c Stander b Haq 32 L J Wright c Haq b Stander 19 K P Pietersen not out 53 O A Shah c MacLeod b Haq 0 *P D Collingwood c Watts b Drummond 9 E J G Morgan not out 23 Extras (b 2, lb 2, w 1) 5 Total (4 wkts, 19 overs) 141 A D Mascarenhas, †J S Foster, A U Rashid, S C J Broad and R J Sidebottom did not bat. Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-57, 3-57, 4-92. Bowling: MacLeod 4-0-34-0; Drummond 4-0-24-1; Stander 3-0-24-1; Wright 2-0-17-0; Haq 4-0-19-2; Watson 2-0-19-0. Umpires: N J Llong and A M Saheba (India).
Source:The times