Lightning strikes as Broad and Prior hurry England to easy win

The lights went out on South Africa well before Trent Bridge could be artificially illuminated as England stormed to one of their most emphatic victories in one-day international history.

Spectacular: Prior pulls off a stunning catch off Broad's bowling to dismiss Smith

Much more of this and Gordon Brown will be looking over his shoulder at Kevin Pietersen rather than David Cameron.

England's new captain has now presided over a Test and two 50-over victories against the country of his birth since taking over from Michael Vaughan and Paul Collingwood, and his side are suddenly playing such vibrant, penetrative cricket that South Africa have been reduced to a shambles.

What a contrast from the Test defeats at Headingley and Edgbaston that cost Vaughan his job.

Before we get too carried away, it should be recorded that South Africa seem to have been longing to go home ever since that historic Saturday in Birmingham when Graeme Smith led them to their first Test series win in England since 1965.

But they have now taken their eye off the ball to such an extent that the momentum appears to have switched irretrievably.

The statistics tell a grim story for Smith and a remarkable one for his old adversary Pietersen. South Africa were bundled out for just 83, their second lowest one-day total, in only 23 overs after winning the toss, a paltry score England cruised past without loss to seal only their third 10-wicket win in one-day internationals.

In all, the match lasted a mere 37.1 overs and just over three hours, finishing at 5.35pm, well before Nottinghamshire could show off their swanky new £500,000 floodlights. Even Twenty20 games last longer than this.

Owzat?! Andrew Flintoff celebrates trapping AB de Villiers lbw

The contributions of England's star performers on the day make equally impressive reading. Stuart Broad has had a mixed summer which culminated in him being dropped for the Edgbaston Test, but he was virtually unplayable on a pitch that contained pace and bounce but certainly no demons.

This was Broad, at 22, showing off all his ability in what should be his stronger suit of bowling, far more significant and important for England than the classy batting contributions this year which have marked him out as a genuine all-rounder in the making.

Four of his five wickets came through catches by Matt Prior, the second taking him to 50 one-day wickets, and the other was held at slip by Owais Shah as Broad bowled with accuracy and hostility to induce the nicks and record the fifth best one-day analysis by an England bowler. And 12 of the 23 runs he conceded came through slogs from Andre Nel in his last over when the game was up for South Africa.

If Broad was the man of the match then Prior, restored to the England side for this series ahead of Tim Ambrose, was not far behind.

The aggression that marks Prior's keeping may have been a little too much for some tastes last summer but there is no doubting that he has brought energy back to England's fielding, and he became only the fourth keeper, after Adam Gilchrist, Mark Boucher and his mentor Alec Stewart, to take six catches in a one-day international.

If five of those catches came from regulation edges, the other one to dismiss Smith was an absolute stunner, Prior taking off to his left to claim a high edge in front of Shah at slip one-handed.

For a man who is a batsman first and keeper second this was evidence that Prior has improved his weaker suit since being sent back to Sussex after poor displays in Sri Lanka.

Prior, in his third coming as an England player, must not only prove himself adept enough with the gloves to succeed at this level but also has responsibility for getting one-day innings off to an explosive start.

And while his unbeaten 45 off 36 balls does not prove yet that he is the man capable of ensuring England can at last take advantage of the power plays, particularly as the pressure was off, it was at least a start.

Captain So-Far Invincible: Skipper Kevin Pietersen leads England to a 2-0 lead in the ODI series against South Africa

It gave Pietersen a victory that he could only have dreamed of when he so unexpectedly took over the reins in both forms of the game last month. The captain's contribution cannot be underestimated, not least because every major decision he has made so far has spectacularly come off.

It helps, of course, to have Andrew Flintoff back fit and firing but Pietersen has helped speed up that process by backing Flintoff to bat at six in the Test team and five in the one-day outfit.

And his move to ask Steve Harmison to return to one-day cricket has proved so far to be a masterstroke, not least because Flintoff so enjoys having his great friend Harmison around.

Any side who can call on Flintoff and Harmison as first and second change behind two others in Broad and James Anderson, also bowling at close to 90mph, suddenly has the look of a formidable one-day team. And England have not been able to call themselves that since 1992.

An outsider would never know that it is South Africa and not their opponents who are ranked as the world's second best one-day team, but England will surely make rapid progress from their current ranking of seven if they keep this up.

For now, wrapping up this series at The Oval on Friday will do.