By Peter May

England on Monday won the Ashes for the first time in 18 years after a series which itself seems to have stretched back a lifetime.

It was Kevin Pietersen's day at The Oval, England's newest cap setting a new standard for those who relish the big occasion.

But it was just the final piece in a mosaic of extraordinary depth and beauty, a contest which has set a new standard for cricket series and arguably even sporting competition as a whole.

Too often superlatives are exhausted in sport but this was a seven-week battle which was peerless for quality of competition, drama and spirit.

Having made a maiden century to secure cricket's biggest and oldest prize, the only blot on Pietersen's landscape is how to fill the remaining years on this mortal coil.

He will surely never better for significance or style the performance which carried England to an unassailable lead.

Back at Lord's in July he proved his technique and mettle with a half-century in the midst of a crisis.

Pietersen had previously called that his favourite innings, an exhibition of `cricket smartness' rather than the devastating hitting for which he became famous.

The Oval 158 boasted both after he arrived and almost left on a hat-trick ball as Glenn McGrath sent a bouncer fizzing into the back shoulder and away to third slip.

England's grip on the series looked precarious at that stage, more so when first Marcus Trescothick and then Andrew Flintoff submitted to the wiles of Shane Warne.

Pietersen made the final decisive contribution of a summer punctuated by individual heroics within collective excellence, riding his luck with a couple of misjudged swipes and three missed chances.

The first, an edge deflected via wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist's glove onto the shin of Matthew Hayden at slip, and third, a low hook to Shaun Tait at fine leg, were nigh on impossible.

But the second, a simple edge at eye-height to first slip from the bowling of Lee, was as straightforward as they come.

To coin a phrase, “Shane, you just dropped the Ashes.”

Shortly afterwards Lee, the series' unluckiest bowler, peppered Pietersen with bouncers on the brink of lunch.

Any one of three or four might have taken a wicket and that would have been enough to bring the sort of finale England simultaneously expected and feared.

Lee's legacy from the match and the series is instead something different, Ponting persevering but seeing his man hit to the four corners by a refreshed Pietersen in a post-lunch period which ultimately decided the game.

The South Africa-born batsman has been rightly criticised for literally and figuratively taking his eye off the ball mid-series but a return to London saw a return to that Lord's form, a performance defined by presence and self-belief.

He was offered brave support by Paul Collingwood and Ashley Giles who were hardly troubled by a fatigued Warne in the afternoon and evening sessions.

The legspinner still contrived to take six wickets in the innings, though nothing but another series win could be described as a fitting end to his Test career in England.

Ditto McGrath, who similarly refuses to rule out playing in the 2006/7 contest but will not return to these shores in the baggy green cap.

If the match had to be drawn, it was fitting that there should be some heroics on the final day.

Better still was Pietersen's deferral of praise, not only to his team-mates but every player to contribute in the series.

The England batsman has received criticism for his ego but he too could only wish to share the limelight in his finest hour.

After a summer such as this, it wasn't about one man or even one team.