The biggest beast with the bat and the quieter mice with the ball all but secured England’s passage into the Super Eights stage of the ICC World Twenty20. It will take a spectacularly heavy defeat by Australia this afternoon to slip below Zimbabwe on run-rate after an encouraging, but hardly flawless, start to the tournament.

Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood struck the decisive blows in a partnership of 100 in 55 balls for the fourth wicket and Dimitri Mascarenhas and Chris Schofield then pegged back a spirited Zimbabwe side with gentle medium pace and spin.

Prosper Utseya, the Zimbabwe captain, believes that slow bowing may give England an edge today. For Pietersen, the possibility of eliminating Australia was too good to resist and his post-match comments were almost as expansive as his strokeplay. “It would be nice to send them back,” he said. “We were humiliated by them last winter and now we are in a position of strength where we can pretty much humiliate them.

“It is somewhere we have not been for a long time. It would be real fun and a really good day for England if that happens. It must pick up the dressing-room and get everybody buzzing with an opportunity of a lifetime.”

Pietersen noted the ability within the Australia side, suggesting that the importance of the game will help them to combat rustiness in the loss to Zimbabwe two days ago. A few minds were concentrated by that setback and their bowling attack is sure to carry more variety. England, though, have a significant advantage in match fitness.

Ultimately, they won easily yesterday on a pitch described as a belter by Pietersen. The outfield, in contrast, is like Plasticine in places after a wet winter. Andy Flower, the batting coach, tore a calf muscle attempting to turn during a game of touch rugby in the warm-up and was carried off the field on a stretcher.

A new-look top three made little impression. Darren Maddy drove to extra cover and Luke Wright was out driving, with little foot movement, at his first ball, from Elton Chigumbura. Matt Prior found long-on and Pietersen narrowly cleared the fielder with the same shot to the last ball of the fielding restrictions.

Amid the mad dash for runs, Collingwood adopted the pace of reason, keeping the ball along the ground, while Pietersen imposed his confidence and ingenuity. Pietersen struck a six and two fours in succession against Keith Dabengwa, a left-arm spin bowler, with reverse strokes when his options on the off side were blocked.

“It is a silly game, so you play silly shots,” he said, recalling the famous switch hit for six against Muttiah Muralitharan at the Edgbaston Test last year. His half-century came in 27 balls and he moved on to 79 from 36 when a second attempt to replicate it found deep point.

Robin Brown, the Zimbabwe coach, had wanted to pick the brains of Duncan Fletcher on his former charges, but proved unable to make contact. “I tried to find his number, but nobody seems to have it,” Brown said, to the amusement of English journalists who spent more than seven years in a similar position.

The departure of Pietersen heralded a collapse with which the former coach would have been familiar. Six wickets went down for 35 runs in 32 balls and, as Brendan Taylor and Vusi Sibanda hit the new ball for almost ten runs per over, the thought of another unlikely win began to arise.

But Mascarenhas was rewarded for an arrow-straight line and variations of pace. He was denied a fourth wicket only when Pietersen dropped a simple catch from Justice Chibhabha. Eight overs in tandem with Schofield cost 33 runs and the wrist-spin bowler, on his return to the international fold after seven years, was happy to see batsmen trying to play him square.