New boy Craig Kieswetter steals the show with swashbuckling ton

Kieswetter, who was born in Johannesburg to a mother from Edinburgh and South African father, holds a British passport and moved to England four years ago aged 18 after representing South Africa at youth levels.

This month he qualified to play for England through the four-year residency rule – same criterion as Kevin Pietersen – and was only parachuted into the one-day squad for Bangladesh at the last minute after advancing his case with some sterling performances for the Lions. But he stole the show in the tour opener, scoring six sixes and 14 fours in his side's total of 370 for seven in 50 overs.

Paul Collingwood also found top gear as he peppered the boundary on his way to a 74-ball 109 as England triumphed by 112 runs. But while Collingwood's contributions in limited-overs cricket have become par for the course, newcomer Kieswetter appears to offer something new at the head of the innings.

And that means space may have to be made for the Johannesburg-born player across the formats.

"We knew he could play like that from the Lions games but to do so on your first official England game, even though it wasn't a full international, is fantastic," said Alastair Cook, captaining his side in 50-over cricket for the first time.

"He didn't look too flustered, took the right options at the right times and played a fantastic knock. He's got a very good chance (of breaking into the first XI], he's done very well to push his name forward. It's going to make for some tough selection problems down the line, even on this tour, but the ultimate benefit of that is that the England side is improving."

Cook added: "The way we started with Craig was fantastic and he'll take the headlines but Colly was fantastic as well. Every tour we set out to improve from where we are at the start of the tour and people coming in and doing it like he has helps us to do that."

Cook also helped himself to a half-century, scoring 56 at better than a run a ball in a first-wicket stand of 127 with Kieswetter.

But there were some disappointments, with Pietersen facing just a ball as he received a dubious decision and England toiling without success for extended periods in the middle of the BCB's 258 for nine.

In regular skipper Andrew Strauss' absence, Cook is determined to keep performance levels high at all times.

"To put on 370 in new conditions was excellent," he said. "But we can't rest too easy, there are things to work on. Our fielding wasn't as good as the standards we've been setting recently on a tough outfield.

"That's an area we can work on. If we were happy with what we'd done today in all areas then we wouldn't improve as a side and we need to improve over the next couple of weeks."

Kieswetter joins an England side that already has a considerable South African presence, with Pietersen, Jonathan Trott and Matt Prior all born in the country.

Proteas captain Graeme Smith is actively seeking to stem the flow of talent from South Africa to England and once made overtures to Kieswetter to return.

But, where Pietersen left behind his homeland on pragmatic grounds after experiencing difficulties with the nation's quota system, Kieswetter's link with the UK extends to his childhood.

"It has never been a political thing or a quota thing for me," he said. "My mother is British and I lived a couple of months every year in Britain with my mother's side of the family. I've always loved the country, the culture, the people. I moved over four years ago and it's never been a concern of mine to move back."