If Kevin Pietersen were a commodity on the London Stock Exchange, economists could stop all this talk of a recession. Everything the England captain touches turns to gold, it seems, and his stock rose again yesterday as England's third one-day victory against South Africa this summer gave Pietersen his first trophy.

The job is not yet over, however. If England can win the final two matches in the NatWest Series, at Lord's tomorrow and in Cardiff on Wednesday, they will - brace yourself - rise to second place in the ICC's Reliance Mobile world rankings. There are still a lot of balls to pass under the bat before then, but Pietersen is not a man to do things by half-measures.

“We've hit our straps in every department,” he said after the match. “The boys have been magnificent. But we want to improve and try to win it 5-0 if we can.” England's ascent from mediocrity to something better than competence has been astounding. At the start of the summer, their one-day ranking was seventh. South Africa, who could have replaced Australia as the best one-day side had they won this series 4-1, could now slip to third.

Pietersen's personal contribution yesterday was minimal. He made only five runs before being struck on the pad in front of off stump by Jacques Kallis, standing in as captain while Graeme Smith nurses his tennis elbow, and chose not to give his part-time off spin another outing.

Instead it was Ian Bell, Andrew Flintoff, Stephen Harmison and Samit Patel who shared the hero's role. The foundation for a winning score was laid with aggressive brilliance by Bell, who took only 77 balls in making 73, and then, after a mid-innings wobble, Flintoff made 78 runs of his own to see England to the threshold of 300.

To think that there were questions not so long ago about whether Flintoff had lost his batting mojo. It was his second score of 78 in a row, having done the same at Headingley Carnegie a week earlier, and the final scampered single off the last ball of the innings took him to 1,000 runs in his 37th NatWest Series match.

After two watchful overs, Bell and Matt Prior had set off at a gallop, reaching 100 off the first ball of the sixteenth over. Makhaya Ntini came in for particular punishment: his first over was a maiden but the next four went for 47. When Prior departed, caught at short extra cover off a top edge, England stuttered, but from 182 for five, Flintoff was able to take them to 296 with able assistance from Patel, making 31 in his first innings for England, and Luke Wright.

Patel, 23, made his first-class debut for Nottinghamshire as long ago as 2002, when he outscored a certain KP Pietersen against West Indies A, and he has been quick to impress his former county team-mate in this series, even if he earned a trademark Pietersen glare early in South Africa's reply for failing to back up his captain's throw. A splendid catch over his shoulder by Patel, running backwards from mid-wicket, made up for it, sending Kallis back to the pavilion for nine off the bowling of Flintoff.

South Africa were 77 for three and only Hashim Amla had looked in control but he got a faint bottom edge when slashing at a ball from Harmison and walked for 46. Harmison also claimed the fourth wicket when his throw from square leg ran out A.B. de Villiers, and then it was over to Patel and his left-arm spin to finish the job.

Mark Boucher went first, stepping back to cut and playing on to his leg stump. Johan Botha also went in odd fashion, the ball ricocheting from bat to foot and backwards on to his wicket. The Morkel brothers, Albie and Morne, were both caught slogging and Patel claimed his first five-wicket haul for England when Ntini edged behind.

Only four England spin bowlers have taken a five-fer in a one-day international, Patel joining Ashley Giles, Graeme Hick and Vic Marks (twice). Has Pietersen's Midas touch now unearthed a spinning all-rounder?

England

I R Bell lbw b Botha 73

†M J Prior c Gibbs b J A Morkel 33

O A Shah b Kallis 23

*K P Pietersen lbw b Kallis 5

A Flintoff not out 78

P D Collingwood c Boucher b Botha 14

S R Patel b Ntini 31

L J Wright c Gibbs b Steyn 17

S C J Broad not out 0

Extras (lb 3, w 16, nb 3) 22

Total (7 wkts, 50 overs) 296

S J Harmison and J M Anderson did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-101, 2-144, 3-146, 4-155, 5-182, 6-256, 7-295.

Bowling: Steyn 10-0-67-1; Ntini 9-1-68-1; M Morkel 10-1-51-0; J A Morkel 5-0-30-1; Botha 9-0-35-2; Kallis 7-0-42-2.

South Africa

H M Amla c Prior b Harmison 46

H H Gibbs c Shah b Anderson 12

*J H Kallis c Patel b Flintoff 9

A B de Villiers run out 12

J P Duminy c Prior b Flintoff 18

†M V Boucher b Patel 19

J A Morkel c and b Patel 16

J Botha b Patel 17

M Morkel c Broad b Patel 6

D W Steyn not out 5

M Ntini c Prior b Patel 0

Extras (b 5, lb 4, w 1) 10

Total (42.4 overs) 170

Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-67, 3-77, 4-82, 5-114, 6-134, 7-142, 8-160, 9-170.

Bowling: Anderson 7-0-17-1; Broad 6-1-28-0; Harmison 9-1-28-1; Flintoff 7-0-33-2; Patel 9.4-2-41-5; Collingwood 4-0-14-0.

Umpires: N J Llong and S J A Taufel (Australia).

TV umpire: P J Hartley.

Match referee: R S Mahanama (Sri Lanka).

Reserve umpire: I J Gould.

Series details: First (Headingley Carnegie): England won by 20 runs. Second (Trent Bridge): England won by ten wickets. To come: Tomorrow: Fourth (Lord's). Wednesday: Fifth (Cardiff).