A New Beginning For England
Total humiliation, something that England would have been hoping to inflict, but instead it’s now something they are desperately trying to avoid.
After a five wicket victory last week at Edgbaston, South Africa will be looking to finish the job in style at the Oval this week.
With nothing to fight for but pride, England has a new captain, in Kevin Pietersen, after the tearful exit of Michael Vaughan on Sunday lunchtime.
Many feel that the appointment of Pietersen may prove a distraction for his batting, however new number three Ian Bell thinks that his batting attitude may spill over into his captaincy.
"His batting is aggressive and his captaincy will be similar… He likes to work very hard and likes to think about all aspects of his game. He has the backing of his team."
England have recalled Stuart Broad and Steve Harmison with the Durham bowler making his first appearance since the tour of New Zealand in the winter. The new captain seems to be impressed already with the returning seemer saying "Steve is as ready as I've ever seen him. I had to unfortunately face him at the Edgbaston nets and he almost took my head off. He's always awkward and ugly to face - I want to make it uncomfortable for the South African batters - Steve is my man."
Pride is all that is left to play for this weekend and Pietersen is hoping that that alone will steer his team to a positive result, "I had a good discussion with the guys and one of the key factors was about playing with passion and pride, as if it's your last Test.
"I want them to come off at the end of the day having given their all for England, to try and put smiles on the faces of people in this wonderful country."
The South Africans are expected to name an unchanged side from the one that clinched the series last Saturday evening in Birmingham.
Related links:
