Thorpe must wait for call

Graham Thorpe must wait until Sunday for official confirmation that he has been restored to England's Test team after an absence of 13 months.

Thorpe is the obvious choice to take over from broken-toe victim Nasser Hussain in a side that must beat South Africa at The Oval next week to share the five-match series.

But while England have a ready made replacement for their former captain there are no easy decisions to be made about a bowling attack which is now certain to be without James Kirtley.

It was confirmation of the Sussex paceman's unavailability because of sore shins that today persuaded the selectors to delay by 48 hours the announcement of their squad for the final Test.

Kirtley, man of the match with eight wickets when England levelled the series at Trent Bridge, limped away from the Headingley defeat and is now out of the reckoning.

With Martin Bicknell struggling to overcome a hamstring injury, the selectors also need extra time to check out the fitness of Richard Johnson, who is finally bowling again after knee and side problems.

But they may yet turn to Matthew Hoggard, who has been missing for three months following a knee operation. Hoggard has played a couple of second team games for Yorkshire but wasn't selected for this week's championship fixture against Glamorgan.

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