Kevin Pietersen ended England's century drought against India today as he gave his team a fighting chance to banish the prospect of a 7-0 whitewash.

Pietersen's disciplined knock of 111 not out from 128 balls, including one six and 10 fours, led the visitors to a challenging 270 for four in the fifth one-day international at Cuttack.

Paul Collingwood contributed 40 before Owais Shah dominated a fifth-wicket stand of 112 with his captain by making 66 off 57 deliveries. The skipper struggled for boundaries in the second half of his innings but this was England's first one-day ton in India in 14 matches.

England made further changes after four straight defeats, recalling Steve Harmison in place of Jimmy Anderson and restoring Alastair Cook to the top of the order where Ian Bell has looked far from convincing. Although Cook lasted only until the sixth over and contributed a modest 11, he and Essex team-mate Ravi Bopara at least set an encouraging tone with their running between wickets until the left-hander edged a wide one from Zaheer Khan to slip.

Bopara, who might easily have been given out lbw before scoring, also fell to Zaheer but 68 for two from 10 overs meant England had a decent base on which to construct a challenging total.

While Pietersen built quickly from the outset, Collingwood again struggled to begin with, scratching just two singles from 18 balls before breaking free by clipping Ishant Sharma for four.

That was the encouragement Collingwood needed and England, boosted further by Pietersen's six off Harbhajan Singh, were going nicely at 157 for two in the 30th over before losing two wickets in the space of five deliveries.

Trying to replicate Pietersen's blow against Harbhajan, Collingwood holed out in the deep. Then Andrew Flintoff's firm-footed drive against Ishant Sharma resulted in an edge to slip and a third-ball duck.