KP confident England can get to semis without him

Julian Guyer

Kevin Pietersen is heading back home for the birth of his first child confident he will be returning to the Caribbean to help England reach the World Twenty20 final.

Pietersen said what he hopes will be a temporary farewell to the squad in style with a superb innings of 53 as England beat his native South Africa by a crushing 39 runs in the Super Eights here on Saturday.

That win maintained England's perfect record in the second round after, thanks mainly to another man-of-the-match winning innings of 73 not out from Pietersen, they previously beat champions Pakistan by six wickets.

Victory over New Zealand in St Lucia on Monday will guarantee England a semi-final place and even defeat by the Black Caps may not spell the end of their hopes, with net run-rate in line to come to their rescue if required. Pietersen's commanding innings against South Africa came in just 33 balls and featured a six and eight fours in a total of 168 for seven.

It all added to the joy the 29-year-old is set to experience off the field, with Pietersen saying: "It's my first child, so it's a hell of an exciting time for me.

"I'll be dashing across the Atlantic and, I hope, dashing back.

"I'm flying back to London in the next 24 hours and hoping everything goes well and according to plan, that there's no complications.

"If we get through to the semi-finals, I'll come in the day before the semi-finals."

Pietersen put on 94 in under 12 overs with Craig Kieswetter before spinners Michael Yardy and Graeme Swann took five top-order wickets between them.

"Today was as close to perfect, apart from a couple of wide balls," Pietersen said of Saturday's victory at the Kensington Oval. "The boys were brilliant. Colly (captain Paul Collingwood) and I have just been talking about the perfect game, and to beat South Africa so convincingly really was amazing.

"It's just so great to be part of a dressing room that plays such great cricket," he added.

Meanwhile, Collingwood said: "There are a lot of England fans in here, and I wanted to put a good performance - and we've done that.

"South Africa are a very good side, and we knew we would have to perform at our best. I think we have almost done that.

"In the line-up we have got there is a lot of potential.

"The boys are making good decisions and they are backing themselves." Pietersen appears to be getting back to his world-class best after more than a year of struggles, including an Achilles injury that ruled him out of most of England's 2009 Ashes triumph against Australia.

"It's just nice to be in the nick again, nice to be back in the side," he said. "It's great to be part of a team that is successful. I've had a really rough last 12 to 14 months, so it's nice to be back again."

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados,

Sunday AFP