THERE was a special reception for Hampshire's Kevin Pietersen when England opened their one-day series with a rain-affected win in South Africa yesterday.

As he expected, the South African born Pietersen was greeted with a hail of abuse when he walked out to bat from home fans in the 32,000 crowd at the Wanderers Johannesburg.

England, who had restricted the hosts to 175-9 in 50 overs, were teetering on 44-3 in reply.

But the 24-year-old Pietersen (22 not out) had the last laugh when he shared an unbroken half-century stand with skipper Michael Vaughan (44 not out).

Torrential rain forced the players off with England 103-3 - and that was enough to give them a 26-run win courtesy of the Duckworth/Lewis Method.

Pietersen walked out on South Africa four years ago disillusioned by the 'quota system' selection policy.

A holder of a British passport, the Pietermaritzburg-born batsman qualified for England by virtue of his mother's birth at the end of the 2004 domestic season and made his limited overs international debut against Zimbabwe before Christmas.

Pietersen is now averaging 126 from his five ODIs for England, and received support from at least one South African.

Test batsman Boeta Dippenaar was impressed by Pietersen's belligerent 97 which hurtled England to a six-wicket floodlit win over South Africa 'A' last week.

And he wasn't about to condemn Pietersen, who joined Hampshire from Notts back in the autumn, for turning his back on the country of his birth.

"One must go with what feels best for one's future and where one sees opportunities," said Dippenarr. "He must have felt opportunities were not here.

"You cannot fault a guy like that, Kepler Wessels did the same in the early 1980s when he went to play for Australia, at the end of the day it is one's career.

"It is okay people wanting you to be patriotic, but it is part and parcel of the game.

"He will be reminded of what he has done, I have no doubt, and although it will be friendly banter on the field, I am not sure about the crowd."

Pietersen knows he will continue to get abuse throughout the seven-match one-day series.

"I expect the stick I copped all the way through the series," he said. "While I was fielding, there was talk of 'traitorship' and all that nonsense. But it is water off a duck's back: I was South African in England for four years and copped that, now I am copping it here for being English."

Such sentiment in the 'A' match was not only confined to the stands, however, as South Africa's second string made their own feelings known with sledging of their own.

"It was stares and swear words," Pietersen added. "Sticks and stones. I looked and laughed at them.

"It is now a case of me going out there and doing what I do best. I can't start verbally abusing 30,000 people back can I?

"That would be a losing effort."

Meanwhile, t was a newly-assembled pace trio which shaped yesterday's contest after Vaughan won the toss.

Veteran Darren Gough, the recalled Matthew Hoggard and youngster Kabir Ali each struck twice as the South Africans lost for the 12th time in 13 limited-overs internationals. Although the host recovered, the tourists were well on course for their victory target of 176 when the extreme wet weather blew in in mid-innings.