Surrey and England legend Alec Stewart has called for the England one day side to find consistency and discipline under the new dawn of a Kevin Pietersen captaincy.

Speaking to www.surreycricket.com ahead of this week’s NatWest Twenty20 International at the Riverside in Durham and the following five match NatWest Series of fifty over clashes, Stewart praised the South African leadership team of Graeme Smith and Mickey Arthur and called for England to reach similar levels of consistent performance.

“The world rankings table doesn’t lie”, Stewart said. “It’s going to be tough for England. South Africa are a good side and have been established for a number of seasons. However, it is another new dawn for England with Kevin Pietersen in charge.

“England have been inconsistent since we lost the World Cup Final in 1992 – we’ve shown glimpses but there’s been no consistency in the pattern of play and the pattern of results for many years now.”

Looking at the England squad, Stewart has identified a number of key figures that he feels can help England achieve good results in the upcoming series. “The players to take us forward are Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah” he said this week.

“I’ve always been a huge fan of Pietersen and now Collingwood is no longer captain, he can just return to the ranks and play his natural game. I think Owais Shah has really impressed in recent times as well, he’s an adaptable player and they’re already talking about batting him at number three rather than five, six or seven where he has sometimes batted in the past.”

However, there is one man that Stewart believes holds the key to England having a successful series – Lancastrian all-rounder Andrew Flintoff. “In Flintoff you’ve got a banker bowler who’s not going to get hit off the park and then the explosive hitting he offers in the middle order”, Stewart told www.surreycricket.com

“You need people that can hit the ball out of the park in the latter stages of the innings at that’s what he gives you.”

Looking at the Twenty20 international which takes place on Wednesday though, Stewart is more confident that England can achieve success, but is also interested in the sub plot involving players attempting to guarantee their selection for the ‘Stanford Super Series’ in November.

“In the T20 England have done OK”, he said. “They’ve played more domestic Twenty20 than most people but the majority of the England side don’t play it domestically.

“They’ve also got the small matter of a million dollar game coming up, which financially could be a life changing game for many of the lads if they win! It will be interesting to see how everyone takes to it.”

South Africa visit the Brit Oval on Friday August 29 for the fourth game of the NatWest series, the match is entirely sold out.

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