September 05, 2008	Friday	Ramazan 04, 1429

CARDIFF, Sept 4: Kevin Pietersen warned his England team that he won’t tolerate them sliding into a comfort zone after wrapping up the one-day series against South Africa.

Despite seeing his hopes of a 5-0 whitewash shattered by the Cardiff rain, with only three overs bowled on Wednesday before the fifth and final match was abandoned, Pietersen said he was satisfied with the progress made.

The England captain won his one Test match in charge in August before leading his team to third place in the ICC world one-day rankings with a 4-0 series win over the country of his birth.

Despite his early success, Pietersen insisted he will continue to push his players to their limits as they prepare for the Stanford Twenty20 clash in November followed by a gruelling tour of India.

“I would say it has gone better than I could have imagined,” said Pietersen.

“Playing a against a quality side like South Africa who have won nine or 10 of their last series means you are an underdog.

“But the way the guys have trained and played has been absolutely exceptional. I can’t fault anybody for anything. They have delivered.

The return to form and fitness of all-rounder Andrew Flintoff has been key to England’s success and coincided with Pietersen’s leadership infancy.

The Lancashire player finished on top of both the batting and bowling series averages and deservedly claimed the Man-of-the-Series award.

Steve Harmison’s decision to come out of international retirement and Matt Prior’s improved form behind the stumps were also factors, and Pietersen paid tribute to all his players’ contributions.

He said: “To have ‘Fred’ performing at those levels is incredible and all of the rest of the team have delivered which has been magnificent.—AFP