5 times Kevin Pietersen rescued England across formats

#3 129 – vs New Zealand, Napier 2008

A 129 from Kevin Pietersen set the base for an away series win after three years at Napier in 2008

Brief Scores: England 253 (Pietersen 129, Broad 42; Southee 5/55) and 467/7 dec (Strauss 177, Bell 110; Vettori 4/158) beat New Zealand 168 (Fleming 59; Sidebottom 7/47, Broad 3/54) and 431 (Southee 77*, Taylor 74; Panesar 6/126) by 121 runs

One of Pietersen's least remembered hundreds, this one gave England their first away Test series win after three years. At Napier, debutant Tim Southee and his colleagues had combined to reduce the visitors to 36/4. No huge partnership featured in this innings of 129 from Pietersen – associations of 89 with Paul Collingwood and 61 with Stuart Broad were the best – but constant ticking over of the scoreboard with the odd annoying boundary kept England in the hunt for a respectable score.

He departed after a knock comprising 12 fours and a six, laying the platform for a total of 253, and was especially harsh on the spin twins Daniel Vettori and Jeetan Patel. Ryan Sidebottom's career-best haul of 7/47 then put England 85 ahead, as, even though New Zealand hit 431 in pursuit of 553, a 2-1 lead for England became inevitable, with Pietersen's stay in the first innings setting the base for the win.