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A dead rubber bought to life by the events of the last couple of days.

Let's start by paying tribute to Michael Vaughan. A sad and emotional end to his tenure as England captain, but overall he proved to be one of England's greatest ever captains. He will always be remembered for overseeing that amazing ashes win in 2005, but his record of 26 wins from 51 tests means that he deserves to be remembered for a whole lot more.

Kevin Pietersen has been confirmed ad the new captain, for all formats of the game.

I believe this is a big mistake. It appears to be a case of the tail wagging the dog as England try and find a man for all seasons rather then who is best placed to win test matches.

In my opinion, Andrew Strauss should have been the obvious choice in Tests. He done the job before in Michael Vaughan's absence and did extremely well with convincing series wins over West Indies and Pakistan.

Alternatively England could have been even bolder and look to the future, made a fresh start and appoint Alistair Cook.

But with neither Strauss nor Cook guaranteed members of the ODI and Twenty20 teams, both have been overlooked in favour of KP who is about the only player that will definitely feature in all three formats.

The best way forward for England would have been for Strauss to captain the Test side, and possibly KP to take over from Collingwood in the ODI and Twenty20 formats.

This will have given England the best of both options, a safe, experienced choice for Tests and an opportunity for KP to learn the art of captaincy in the other formats.

If he then proved himself, it would have put him in better stead of taking over the test captaincy at a later time.

KP is undoubtedly England's best batsman. He is expressive, dominant and positive at the crease. Sometimes these traits can also be his Achilles heel and he has often perished playing shots that did not suit the situation. But he gets most of his runs with that approach and if he swayed away from his natural game, he would not be half as effective.

Responsibility is also a trait. It's not something you can learn easily, you're born with it, or not.

This decision to make him captain will leave him between the devil and the deep blue sea. He knows that as captain, the onus is on him to lead by example. This will almost certainly mean that he will try to be more responsible, but in doing so, he will be going against his natural instincts and this uncertainty is likely to see him fail just as many times as his perceived irresponsibility has done.

Making your best batsmen as captains has been tried before by other teams. It rarely works. Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara both had spells as captains, both failed, both had second goes, both failed again.

As a result, sides get hit with a double whammy. An unsuccessful captain and their best player demoralised and questioning his ability to even carry on as a batsman.

KP might buck that trend, but I would not bet on it!

England are hoping KP is a long term success, especially with the Ashes series on the horizon. But the timing of his appointment could also backfire.

This 4th test at the Oval is a dead rubber. In normal circumstances, as with most dead rubbers, the side that has won the series tends to let their concentration levels drop and a loss, whilst disappointing, would not be the end of the world.

However, considering KP's history with South Africa, and especially considering how little love lost there is between him and Graeme Smith, this dead rubber takes on new significance for South Africa too.

They have won the series, but if they can ensure KP, of all people, gets off to a losing start as captain, it will be the icing of the cake.

South Africa probably be more inspired by KP's appointment then some of the England players and I expect them to make an extra effort to win this test.

England Squad sees the return of Ravi Bopara to replace Michael Vaughan. It will be interesting to see if he slots into the no3 batting role, or if Bell moves into that role with Bopara batting at no5.

I also expect changes in the bowling attack. Sidebottom did not look fit in last test, and I believe Steve Harmison could replace him.

The pitch at the Oval is normally a batters paradise and I expect this to be the case again. A high scoring bore draw cannot be ruled out, however I think a result is more likely.

Will it that result be an England or a South African win?

Toss could be crucial, as will a first innings lead.

England's last three first Innings scores on this pitch has seen them score 373 against Australia, 173 against Pakistan and 345 against India last year in response to India's massive 664.

In those games England enjoyed a lead of 5 runs against Australia, but had deficits of over 300 runs against Pakistan and India.

South Africa have most of their batsmen in top form right now and once again I feel its odds on that it will be them that enjoy a very healthy first innings lead.

That lead will lead to pressure once more on the England top order in 2nd innings, and it's this scoreboard pressure that will prove pivotal in this game.

My suggested bet for this test therefore is:

BACK South Africa for 4 points @ 3.15 on Betfair

Bigjoe