What really happens in a dead Test match? The series has been decided with South Africa two nil up and only the final match in London to play. Do sides which have won the series drop their intensity? Does the side which has lost the series lift their game as they play for pride?
England will be an interesting team to watch to see if they do play for pride and to see how their latest captain, South African born Kevin Pietersen handles his new role.
Former captain Michael Vaughan is out of the side and has been replaced by Essex batsman Ravi Bopara who was dropped from the Test team after his ordinary tour of Sri Lanka. Bopara didn’t distinguish himself and finished with three consecutive ducks. Since then in this year’s county season he’s achieved a batting average of more than 50 in four-day games and in limited over games his current average is better than 100. He’s a proven one-day player at international level as he showed at the last World Cup but will he make the most of his Test recall?
South Africa will not take things lightly. The 50 over and 20 over matches are soon to follow and anyone in that 15 man squad will want to be on top of their game. Dale Steyn has had an excellent series until injured, his replacement Andre Nel took over from his fellow quickie and did well in the series clincher last week. If Steyn had been fit, the selectors would have had a tough choice. It seems likely the tourists will go in with an unchanged side.
Five years ago at The Oval when South Africa played England, the locals won by nine wickets. Some interesting statistics in that Test are that for England, Marcus Trescothick made a double-century and Graham Thorpe a century. England’s best bowlers in the match were Bicknell and Harmison. The latter may play but not the others and besides, the team side has a brand new captain.
Cricket scribes have sent mixed messages about Pietersen. Some have doubts about his ability to captain and worry his form will suffer. Others believe he is a player who makes things happen and this augurs well for an English side desperate to improve its form ahead of the Ashes series in 2009.
The Oval wicket has been batsmen-friendly in the past and a betting man would fancy the visitors to go three up. But then look how India turned around its fortunes in Galle last week. Cricket can be a funny game.
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