Andrew Flintoff keeps England flying against South Africa

England (137-3) beat South Africa (183-6) by seven wickets (D/L Method)

England's march to the summit of world cricket under new captain Kevin Pietersen moved on past the South Col after they won their fourth successive one-day international against South Africa in a rain-reduced match at Lord's.

With the final game of the series in Cardiff on Wednesday, second place in the rankings behind Australia, which they would achieve with a 5-0 whitewash, remains a tantalising possibility.

Set to score 137 off 20 overs, the minimum required for a one-day international, England chased down the runs with 14 balls to spare.

The expertise of Owais Shah, who made an unbeaten on 44, in the dynamics of a Twenty20 run-chase on his home ground helped, but savage cameos by Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, who scored 31 off 12 balls, meant there was never any panic.

On a day when heavy rain kept revising the scoreboard and mucking up tactics, it was an advantage to bat second. Sent in by England, South Africa had made 183 for six from 32.1 overs when rain cut short their already adjusted innings by five balls.

Thereafter, Messrs Duckworth and Lewis seemed to short-change them further when their target was recalculated to 136. Whether Pietersen factored this in when he won the toss is not known, but then most things are falling well for England's captain at present.

Coming in at three, Shah shared stands of 74 with Pietersen and 44 with Flintoff, playing the sleeping partner in both. His first boundary, in the eighth over, was only England's second as Dale Steyn and Andre Nel had kept the openers quiet.

England were badly in need of some impetus when Matt Prior and Ian Bell both fell before the score had reached 20. Step forward the England captain, a man so in control of his own destiny that you half expect him to hold back the rain clouds which were once more gathering to the south. Come to think of it, perhaps he did, for Jacques Kallis' delaying tactics fell upon dry ground.

Few can hack and hoik as effectively as Pietersen, who greeted Kallis' introduction with a barrage of cross-batted boundaries, an assault capped when Shah struck him for a big six into the Mound Stand.

Twenty runs off the stand-in captain's over sent him fleeing for cover. The introduction of off-spinner Johann Botha bought South Africa a wicket, when Pietersen holed out at deep midwicket, but that brought no respite. Hitting the ball clean and hard, two factors that confirmed his confidence, and which brought him five fours and a six, Flintoff hastened the end.

Earlier, Flintoff had been just as immense with the ball. Passing what looked like an impromptu fitness test on a stiff back before the start, he was almost unhittable in any meaningful way. One half-volley and one short ball, from the 42 legitimate deliveries he sent down, were testament to his pace and control, as he finished with three for 23.

His potency was not shared by Steve Harmison or James Anderson, their radar clearly awry when bowling from the Pavilion End. When you give Herschelle Gibbs and Hashim Amla width and thus room to increase their bat-speed they will take you apart, which is what happened in a blitz of 58 runs in seven overs.

Amla, relatively new to one-day cricket, was outscoring Gibbs, his opening partner, when he was run out by a direct hit from Shah. Gibbs had miscued the ball past the Flintoff and set off for a single. Amla, guilty of ball-watching, hesitated. But if that was poor cricket from him, he was probably unlucky that Shah hit the stumps at the end furthest from him – not because the Middlesex man has not got a strong arm, but because he was aiming for those closest too him.

Later, as England's batsmen set off in pursuit of South Africa's revised total in the gloom, Shah hit the target that counted to keep England on course for a rare clean sweep.