KEVIN Pietersen displayed a timely return to form to give England a pre-Ashes boost at the end of their ICC Champions Trophy campaign.

Pietersen blasted an unbeaten 90 to guide Andrew Flintoff's men to a three-wicket victory over holders West Indies under the Sardar Patel Stadium lights.

The 26-year-old reverted back to number five in the batting order and excelled once again to hit his first half-century in nine attempts at one-day international level.

His authoritative striking helped scythe down West Indies' 272 for four with nine balls to spare and was reminiscent of his three hundreds in South Africa two winters ago; his personal tally in 12 innings from third-wicket down is now 698 runs at an average of 116.

It was also an opportune time for the man whose Oval hundred sealed the Ashes in 2005 to regain form - the first Test of the defence is less then four weeks away.

"Getting runs anywhere will stand you in good stead after you haven't got many," said coach Duncan Fletcher.

"To get those runs like that, back to what he was before, is bound to give him a lot of confidence.

"It was good to see him play like I believe he should. He showed a little bit of patience early on and built his innings.

"We showed him some videos of what happened in South Africa when he took his time and batting at number five is useful for him.

Momentum

"He was able to get momentum towards the end of his innings and he did that again here."

Captain Andrew Flintoff got through his pre-planned five overs with no ill effects - his first bowl in international cricket since June 4 - to add to the feelgood factor at the end of an otherwise disappointing trip to the subcontinent.

England have erred on the side of caution since Flintoff returned from ankle surgery, keen to ensure he is ready to operate in all-rounder capacity in Brisbane next month.

His two spells also gave England extra control through the power plays and towards the death.

"I asked him 'how did you go?' and he said he felt very comfortable; I am sure he could have bowled more overs so that is very good news.

"It is huge for us because we can balance the side better," said Fletcher, after Flintoff's first win in seven attempts as England's one-day captain.

"As soon as he bowls 10 we can add another batter or even go in the same where we can use two spinners with four seamers.

"It gives us lots of options and that is important when you go into a major tournament like the World Cup."

As expected Steve Harmison was dropped for the final Group A match yesterday and his replacement Jon Lewis defied the heat to send down an impressive spell of 10-1-35-1 at the start of the innings.

It was quite a contrast to Harmison's displays out here which saw him concede 20 runs in his opening over against India and return figures of 4.5-0-45-1 in defeat to Australia.

However, Fletcher is confident that any crisis of confidence will not spread to the Test scene.

"Whenever you leave a player out it is the worst thing to do, it is very hard, especially for a coach or selector," Fletcher said. "It is one of the worst you can make when you are involved in a sport.

"We don't take it lightly, we just felt he seemed to have lost his confidence and we probably needed Jon Lewis to tighten things up a bit.

"He knows he bowls a lot better in the Test matches, we have got warm-up games in Australia, he goes into the tour a lot fitter for being here and it is now important he gets some overs in because he is a very dangerous bowler in Test cricket."

When centurions Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo were in tandem it appeared England's woeful limited-overs record was about to be extended to 20 defeats out of 25 completed contests against Test-class opposition.

Capitalise

But West Indies did not capitalise on their wickets in hand and wasted the new ball, allowing openers Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell to lay the platform with 50 apiece.

The game tilted the way of Brian Lara's side when Flintoff and Paul Collingwood succumbed in one Gayle over.

But that brought Pietersen to the crease and he kept his composure as wickets fell at the other end, making his decisive move when Sajid Mahmood joined him in the middle.

The feature of their unbroken 44-run stand, from just 23 deliveries, were two thunderous strokes through extra-cover by Pietersen off successive balls from medium-pacer Bravo in the 48th over, the second of which clattered into the stands on the full to bring the scores level.

Fletcher will have only one more tournament - the VB Series in Australia in the new year - to prepare his squad for the 2007 World Cup.

He has come under fire for England's current malaise in limited-overs cricket, most notably from former Test batsman Geoff Boycott who reckons the 58-year-old Zimbabwean has come to the end of his shelf life after seven years in charge.

But Fletcher insists he has no plans to step down in the near future and countered: "I have always said the time to finish is when I feel I don't help the players and I can't help the England team I am coaching.

"We will have to wait and see, I don't know how long it will be: I am confident at the moment I am helping the side and can add value to it."

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