The England opener hit the deck attempting to avoid the ball but it still clipped the brim of his helmet before racing to the boundary.Pietersen, attempting to treat the left-arm spin of Michael Clarke in a similar style, holed out at deep backward point and this caused England to go through their only wobbly spell of the match. Michael Vaughan chipped his first ball to mid-wicket and a watchful Trescothick swept Andrew Symonds to the safe hands of Mike Hussey at deep square-leg. With the scoreboard reading 109-5 England looked like falling short of a competitive total.But Paul Collingwood showed that there is more than one way to score runs in this form of the game. The right hander hit the ball so hard back down the ground that it nearly pole-axed Trescothick backing up at the non-striker's end. And this is just what Pietersen did to Michael Kasprowicz and Gillespie during a blistering 18-ball innings of 34. The first of these boundaries came when Kasprowicz was driven imperiously over mid-off for four.
Gillespie did not intimidate Pietersen, who then struck the fast bowler back over his head for a huge six.Yet the most imposing blow came in Kasprowicz's next over. Michael Clarke helped kick-start Pietersen's innings when he let a four through his legs on the cover boundary.Shane Warne has spent the opening two months of the season playing in the same team as the England one-day star, and in the build-up to these matches the legendary leg-spinner - who has retired from limited-over cricket - would have briefed Australia on his strengths and weaknesses.But there is little any bowler can do with a batsman possessing the ability to hit good length balls down the ground for four or six. If anything the cheer that greeted Kevin Pietersen's arrival was louder than Flintoff's, and the Hampshire man did not let his new fans down. The England all-rounder scored a brilliant century here against Sri Lanka in last years Champions' Trophy but he chipped his fifth delivery to Andrew Symonds at midwicket.But the crowd's distress did not last long. After striking Lee for two fours, Jones turned his attention to McGrath. The England wicketkeeper pulled the paceman for two fours but fell when he top-edged a drive to third man.Flintoff walked out to a standing ovation but on this occasion failed to provide them with the pyrotechnics the crowd was looking for.
McGrath may have 499 Test wickets but even he will take last night into his next game.And had Harmison walked away with Lewis's or Gough's figures he would have left Southampton yesterday evening feeling even more pleased with himself than he already is.In the build-up to the match England stated that they wanted to have wickets in hand during the final five overs of their innings but following the first boundary, which Marcus Trescothick edged through fourth slip, Geraint Jones decided to get after the bowling. That a player is only as good as his last performance is a clich?ut it is true. And England completed a memorable evening when Steve Harmison bowled Glenn McGrath.Those who feel that a 20-over slog on a Monday evening will have no bearing on the Ashes overestimate the self-belief of cricketers. Ricky Ponting drove Lewis to Vikram Solanki at extra cover, and by the fifth ball of the sixth over England, unbelievably, were already into Australia's tail.Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie attempted to mount something of a comeback but both fell to Paul Collingwood.
