London: Kevin Pietersen has just walked into one of the most stressful jobs in world cricket - that of being the new England captain - says all-rounder Andrew Flintoff. Andrew believes Pietersen's trademark swagger will help him make the step up, but cautions him that achieving or overtaking Michael Vaughan's 26 Test match win record will be a big challenge.
"Taking over from Vaughan is massive. But the lad who's coming in will believe he can fill those boots - he's a very confident Guy and an unbelievable cricketer The qualities that make him the player he is are the same once he will take into his captaincy.
Team Combination Likely:
England Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen (capt), Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Tim Ambrose (wk), Stuart Broad, Steve Harmison, James Anderson, Monty Panesar.
South Africa Graeme Smith, Neil McKenzie, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, Ashwell Prince, AB de Villiers, Mark Boucher (wk), Morne Morkel, Paul Harris, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini
Pitch & Conditions: The last three matches all finishing as high-scoring draws. Bill Gordon, the groundsman, anticipates rather more pace in the deck that has been seen of late, and for the moment at least, there is still a decent covering of grass.
Whether Forecast: Aug 7 - PM Showers, Aug 8 - Light Rain, Aug 9 - PM Rain, Aug 10 - Light Rain, Aug 11 - Party Cloudy
Match Summary | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
England won by 6 wickets and SA won 4 matches series by 2-1 Player of the match: KP Pietersen (England) Players of the series: KP Pietersen (England) and GC Smith (South Africa) |