By Jonathan Stevenson BBC Sport at The Oval

As the 28-year-old South African led his adopted country England out for the first time in a Test match against the country of his birth, the eyes of the cricketing world were on his every move.

Over the course of the last four days, everyone seems to have had their say on the England and Wales Cricket Board's replacement for the departed Michael Vaughan.

With so many question marks over his credentials, it was time for the imponderables to stop and for Pietersen, as he has done so often, to let his actions do the talking.

As he trotted down the steps out on to the field, the crowd at The Oval left him in no doubt as to whether they were behind this most remarkable of England captains with a generous applause.

Almost immediately there was the first sign of a change from Vaughan's tenure, with the team huddle noticeable by its absence.

"He's doing it to be different. Typical Pietersen," mumbled a punter already supping his second pint to my left.

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Geoff Boycott was slightly more impressed on Test Match Special: "Thank God for that. They're here to play cricket, they aren't girls playing hockey.

"It's a cosmetic thing, total waste of time. You do your talking in the dressing-room and the pitch is for playing the game."

In the good books without a ball even being bowled, and KP nearly got off to a perfect start as Graeme Smith was dropped from the first delivery of the match by Alastair Cook off the returning Steve Harmison.

Pietersen's public eulogising of Harmison on Wednesday could barely have been more in contrast with the frustration felt by Vaughan and many followers of England over the past couple of years with his laboured, uninspiring displays.

But Harmison responded to his new captain's backing and with the crowd roaring him in, he bowled quicker and more dangerously than he has in an England shirt for a long while.

The watchword Pietersen has banded around in the infant stages of his reign as England captain has been 'responsibility'.

He wants the players to take it upon themselves to produce the goods for their country and show a pride and passion while they are wearing the three lions.

Pietersen, though, did not forget that his team needed him. He was always there to put an arm around a shoulder, give a high-five or pat a team-mate on the bum as he tried to cajole them into action.

At 103-1 having lost the toss, with the sun breaking through and Smith and Hashim Amla starting to turn the screw, Pietersen must have wondered where to turn.

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But his faith in Harmison paid off and the devastating delivery which cartwheeled Amla's stumps all over south London put the broadest of all smiles on the face of the skipper.

Six wickets in the afternoon session, including one for Monty in his first over, turned Pietersen's gamble of playing five bowlers into a spectacular triumph.

"This is his team, he wants five bowlers and he wants Freddie batting at six," said another fan during the tea break (I'm useless with names).

"So far you can't argue with it can you? How many other times this summer have we threatened to bowl this lot out for under 200?"

In fact the only blemish at that stage was Broad's figures of nine overs, 0-52, but Pietersen underlined his faith in the 22-year-old by handing him the ball straight after lunch.

Broad, who had been crashed around the park while wickets fell at the other end, responded superbly by getting rid of Morne Morkel and Andre Nel and putting another gold star by his new captain's name.

In bowling South Africa out for 194 after losing the toss at The Oval, things could not have gone much better for Pietersen.

He will have tougher days in the field, that's for sure. Though when they come, don't expect field changes every ball like Vaughan used to - Pietersen rarely tinkered with his placings, even when Smith and Amla were in the ascendancy.

In general, the way Pietersen has started in his new role bodes well for the future, but a start it merely is.

All day long, I met only one person who seemed absolutely certain the appointment would prove to be a complete failure.

"You mark my words," this particular member of the press told me. "This will end in disaster. Appointing a South African as England captain, it's a crazy decision."

Watching as he was his 368th Test match, I didn't feel qualified to argue at the time.

But as 20,000-plus people drifted away from The Oval on a breezy, sunlit August evening, they could have been forgiven for thinking they might just have seen the dawn of a bright new era for English cricket.