Bowdz, good points but remember, india are carrying a few very old batsmen in their team so can somebody mention the replacements for dravid and tendulkar when they retire, besides that the bowling is looking great. lol @ kp and moores, what a joke, lets hope england can pull it all together for the windies tour but the ashes aint coming home! Big respect to graeme smith! was a massive risk to go out to bat and almost pulled off the impossible. great series, i fell it tops the ashes 2005 series or at least matches it. looking forward to the one-dayers and return test series, going to have to find a place at uni to watch all the cricket + continue my degree!!!

Compare the KP-Moores situation to that of Smith and Ray Jennings in SA. Jennings was (apparently) not kept on as coach because Smith disliked him, and Smith picked Arthur to take over. While I have been critical of this cosy relationship in the past, it has certainly proved successful and there appears to be mutual respect between the two of them. As Pom points out, Moores' record as England coach is poor, and he has failed to unlock the potential of talented young players such as Cook and Panesar. KP, on the other hand, has at least shown that he has the potential to get the best out of the team. Abrasive and egotistical he may be, but he could his work ethic and desire to win could have benefitted the team. What the ECB should have done was to let KP have his way and appointed the coach he wanted, if only on a trial basis until, say, after the Ashes, when they could re-evaluate the situation. KP was the best man for the captaincy in August, and nothing has changed since then. He knows it, and so do the other players, which will make for a very unsettled england dressing room in the build-up to the Ashes.

Both Moores and KP out (although still to be confirmed re: KP). Personally I think that it is the best thing that could happen. Moores is useless and KP is not captain material as I stated at the time of his appointment....obviously if England lose KP as a player as well then that is a different, highly worrying matter, but I cannot see him walking away from his lucrative contract and current / potential endorsements (even the IPL earnings would not cover this...and his attitude towards the IPL has shown he likes to have a few bob in his pocket)...I hope to be singing 'Big Fat Fred's Barmy Army' in the Caribbean in a few weeks time, but in all probability Flintoff (the obvious choice) will be overlooked for someone with the right county / school tie that will never say 'boo' to the ECB like 'nice' Mr Alistair Cook or 'nice but dim' Mr Andrew Strauss (both play for the right counties and attended the right schools and Universities and are generally devoid of the testicles it takes to upset the 'ties' in the ECB)...however do not rule out KP being persuaded to come out of what could be a very temporary captaincy retirement...after all, could it be any more farcical than the current situation?...Next coach. Flowers I should think.

Now that's what it's all about! .. when Johnson bowled Smith I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat, great stuff. You can "if only" and "maybe" about things until you're blue in the face and still nobody knows how things would have turned out if some close decisions had gone the other way .. there were dodgy ones against both sides throughout the match, and the fact is that if any of them had been given differently maybe we wouldn't have had such a gripping finale. I love cricket.

the aussies won coz they won the toss. That pitch always favour the team batting first.

I just wanted to add: I have met KP in real life (he played grade cricket with my friend in Sydney). I have never met such a talented player in my life (I honestly think he could be in the Ponting, Lara, Tendulkar if he isn't already). However, I have also never met a more arrogant individual either. He is not, nor has he ever been captain material. Just because he is the best player in the team does not mean that he should be captain. Just like Lara and Tendulkar (neither of whom were good captains), he should just have to worry about himself, not the rest of the team. He is currently too selfish to be a good captain, maybe if he matures in the future, he could still do it.

This must be one of the shortest stints in -modern day- cricket as a Test Captain! Seriously, I agree he is an awesome player to have in the team and probably someone the youngsters will admire and he will be able to inspire them, but I doubted the influence he would have on guys like Flintof and the like! Those are the guys who win you matches! Cheers KP! This bodes well for all other teams touring England soon!

@karma77sa...Another thing which should worry Cricket Australia is the amount of players over the age of 30 compared to this South African team. Happy days ahead if you are supporting South Africa or India ;).... Only for 3-5 years we have some of the best young players in the world coming through at state level, i'm not saying that we'll be as dominate as we have been recently, (in fact its highly unlikely any team will) but you can be sure that after a few years of rebuilding and the development of young players, Australia will be number be back up there again. But for now congratulations to the Proteas, a tough series which could really have gone either way, but for the first two match they preformed like champions when they looked done, bravo. Putting my pride aside just briefly; this is a great day for test cricket

KP and Moores out. English cricket is truly a circus. The Australians must be laughing their heads off with this much turmoil in their opponents camp in an Ashes year. I'm really interested to hear what all parties involved have to say about this whole debacle. Strauss for captain? And what about the coach? Apparently Andy Flower will asked to perform caretaking duties.

Pom, don't you think KP would have bettered the English team if he had got his way? Oh yes, congrats to Australia, for it will retain the Ashes.

Just when the English team starting to look good, at least in Tests, they shoot themselves in the foot. If it comes to choosing coach or captain, the coach has to go. I don't see anything wrong in what KP did. It is better that KP had quit, rather than being in a divided dressing room.

Karma...I agree with you regarding KP and opening a Pandora's box when they appointed him. At the time of his appointment I said it was the wrong decision (unfortunately the ECB did not have much choice with Collingwood and Cook both struggling for a place at the time)...KP is never going to do what the ECB want all their captains to be...a nice upper middle class private school educated, Oxford/Cambridge University educated 'yes' man, who will insist upon keeping the status quo and picking the right players with the right school or county ties. Add to this his ego and the fact that he had already alienated himself from half the squad during Vaughan's reign and he was never going to be the right man for the job...great player no doubt...but captaincy material in the England set up - never. It is however quite amusing that people are saying he is making a stand over Vaughan. That is rubbish. 1) The man's ego would never want the ex-captain involved 2) It is a reasonably well known issue that KP was behind a rift in the camp in Sri Lanka whereby he accused Vaughan of picking his favourite 'old boys' despite their woeful form and 3) To suggest KP would want to pick Vaughan on the back of the awful form he displayed last year at test and county level would be fantastic (he would not deserve to be captain if this was his opinion)....I am not so sure he will win the battle with Moores. If he does it will probably be because the ECB want rid of Moores (5 test wins in 22 !) rather than they are backing KP.

kiriakoz, I congratulated the Aussies. Its just Tuesday that irritates the s%$t out of me

Is it true Kp resigned

Well done to the Aussies for the win but damn what a gutsy performance by the Proteas and most notably THE MAN Smith. I'll take a series win in Australia and can't wait for the return leg! Well done boys.

I agree with kiriakoz..........it's been a great series, with great cricket played all round - so let's leave it at that guys. And, the best part is....there's still the series in SA coming up - think it's gonna be HUGE! Can't wait for the Wanderers Test........

To those who asking for Aussie fans to post, let me remind you that I already have once, and I was very gracious in my praise of Smith. He is a legend (no matter what NeilB says!). For him to come to Australia and captain his side to a win whilst also winning the player of the series (something that many so called "legends" have failed to do, cannot be overestimated. However, the fact is, noone could beat Australia at home when they had McGrath, Warne, the Waugh twins, Langer, Martyn, MacGill, Gillespie and co and it took the retirement of the above (and an injury to Brett Lee, our strike bowler) in order for any team to finally win here. The fact that we lost to a superb South Africa team at the top of their form is no disgrace. Please South African fans, I urge you to remain as humble as Smith himself following your teams impressive win here.

Neil B is KP??

POOCHANDI "From the looks of it, if Siddle and Bollinger are the best bowlers available for selection, the sporting gene needs some splicing". So true Pooch.....so very true.

PROPHET who's fickle? I would not change anything for the next Test. On the otherhand Australia's bowling attack looks limp. It has NO penetration at all and if those last few lines sounded like a viagra advert it was not meant to ;) Siddle was so lucky with a few of his wickets yet he comes accross as the next Glen McGrath, lol. He is a noob and should try remain more humble and focused. Goon Bollinger (lol) is average. What did Bracken do wrong to be ignored. Bracken might have been very dangerous on this wicket. Like I said before Haddin is a batsman who became a keeper. From the amount of drops of balls being left by the batsman it shows he is not comfortable with the gloves on. A few catches were dropped because of the indecision between Hayden at first slip and Haddin not going for the ball. I would drop the Goonie Man and bring in Bracken. Any other decent wicket keeper batsmen in Australian Cricket? Another thing which should worry Cricket Australia is the amount of players over the age of 30 compared to this South African team. Happy days ahead if you are supporting South Africa or India ;)

What about the doctored Sydney pitch? The moon has a few less craters. Do the world champions have to resort to this? SA can still hold their heads high. The pitch coupled with iffy umpiring defeated them more than the opposition did. On another wicket, it might have been a different result.

KP is a muppet

What are the Aussies in this forum playing at? Not a word from any of them. An insidious thought - maybe ArrogantOz is going to be unleashed on you guys. Only Penny can confirm that.

On the topic of another South African Kevin Pieterson. My money is on him winning the fight between himself and the Commonwealth coach. If the Commonwealth lose Pieterson they lose possibly their 2nd best player. I still rate Flintoff higher than Pieterson. Regardless they have opened a Pandora's box in giving the reins to Pieterson. They will have to ride his mood swings and ego driven rants. Perhaps he might lead Commonwealth Cricket to glory still. Smith has done it for South Africa. When he took charge he and Ray Jennings also had a similar fallout. Jennings lost that fight. Funny thing is I still rate Jennings a better coach than Arthur. Luckily Ray is still apart of the South African Cricket scene and is the coach of the South African U-19 team? ED? MADZULUBOY thats Cricket mate. Australia also copped a few bad decisions but you are right about DeSilva. Boucher's decision was the worst!! lol. Regardless buddy we slaughtered them like they slaughtered us a few years ago in our backyard and why we need to be aware of the Aussie backlash and their attempt to get revenge for this humiliation. Smith and his team will be ready. The same way we were ready when we arrived in Perth for the first Test. Difference is though Australia have to play a few ODI games against New Zealand after this T20 and ODI series against South Africa right? After our silly ODI series is over then we will get a minimum of a two week break before the Australians arrive for the first Test in Johannesburg. Add altitude, fatigue, jet-lag, a confident settled South African team and the hot highveld sun and you have a good advantage from the first ball bowled. Lets hope Smith is fit before the first Test. Let me be the first to predict a WIN in the first Test purely because South Africa have a point to prove in this 6 match series.

Congrats to the Aussies. And well done to South Africa for showing a lot of fight. Prophet, unfortunately there is a group of people in South Africa that will always run down the South African cricket team. THey think they are on a noble cause, but in reality there way of thinking is so outdated, they have so many chips on there shoulder they could supply many MacDonalds. NeilB, i will continue to talk to Tuesday as I please. I could have gone to town on her beloved captain, I had plenty of ammunition to do so during the series but I have a tiny bit more class than her.