Replacement England captain Pietersen living a dream

LONDON (Reuters) - Kevin Pietersen will fulfil a dream when he takes over as England captain from the suspended Paul Collingwood in Saturday's fifth and final one-dayer against New Zealand at Lord's.
Collingwood was handed a four-match ban for his team's slow over-rate in their one-wicket defeat by the Kiwis at the Oval on Wednesday.
"I'm humbled to have been handed the captaincy," Pietersen said in a news release on Thursday. "Captaining England has been a dream of mine but I also understand I'm assuming the role in Paul's absence as he is the captain and leader of the one-day side.
"To be asked to captain your country is the ultimate honour in sport and I feel privileged and proud to have been asked to lead the side on Saturday."
England go into the game trailing 2-1, with the second match in the series having been abandoned as a no result.
"I am very much looking forward to leading the team against New Zealand and am excited by the challenge of captaining such a young and talented side," added Pietersen.
"We can't win this series but I, like the rest of the dressing room, expect an outstanding England performance to finish the series on a high."
Andrew Strauss has been called into the squad as batting cover for the suspended Collingwood.