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BLOEMFONTEIN, Feb 2: South African-born Kevin Pietersen ignored a frosty reception from his opponents and the crowd to score an unbeaten maiden century out of England's 270 for five during the second one-day international against South Africa on Wednesday.
The powerful 24-year-old, who left for England after complaining about the lack of opportunities in South Africa, put on 80 with Michael Vaughan (42) for the fourth wicket and 92 off 79 deliveries with Paul Collingwood (40) for the fifth.
He finished on 108 from 96 balls, hitting two sixes and six fours. The final 10 overs went for 77. Pietersen, whose two sixes came from effortless flicks over square leg, kissed his helmet and acknowledged the dressing room after reaching three figures, while most of the home crowd refused to applaud.
When he walked off, many of spectators turned their back on him. The fans had booed him in the first match in Johannesburg. England, put in on a good but slowish track, lead the seven-match series 1-0.
The touring side had raced to 50 without loss in the 10th over but the dismissal of Marcus Trescothick (37 off 36 balls) sparked a mini collapse as three wickets fell for 15 runs.
Geraint Jones went for 20 and Andrew Strauss for two, beautifully caught down the leg side by a diving Mark Boucher, thus forcing Vaughan to rebuild cautiously with Pietersen before the pair picked up the pace.
Vaughan's runs came off 82 deliveries, before he was run out by a fine throw from AB de Villiers as he attempted a second run to third man. South Africa's frontline bowlers produced near-identical figures, Hall taking one for 50, Ntini one for 51, Pollock one for 52 and Nel one for 54 off their 10 overs.
SCOREBOARD
ENGLAND
M Trescothick b Pollock 37
G Jones c Ntini b Nel 20
M Vaughan run out (De Villiers) 42
A Strauss c Boucher b Hall 2
K Pietersen not out 108
P Collingwood c De Villiers b Ntini 40
I Bell not out 11
Extras (lb3, nb2, w5) 10
Total (5 wkts, 50 overs) 270
Falls: 1-52, 2-60, 3-67, 4-147, 5-239
Bowling: Pollock 10-1-52-1, Ntini 10-0-51-1 (1w), Nel 10-0-54-1, Hall 10-0-50-1 (2nb), Smith 2-0-10-0 (2w), Kallis 4-0-24-0 (1w), Kemp 4-0-26-0.
Did not bat: A Giles, Kabir Ali, D Gough, M Hoggard.
SOUTH AFRICA: G Smith, A de Villiers, J Kallis, H Gibbs, A Prince, J Kemp, M Boucher, S Pollock, A Hall, M Ntini, A Nel.
Umpires: B Jerling (RSA), S Taufel (AUS)
TV umpire: I Howell (RSA)
Match referee: R Madugalle (SRI). -Agencies
