England Cricket pays tribute to the Queen with the new anthem 'God Save The King' ahead of the third South Africa Test

England and South Africa have resumed their third and final Test match on day three at the Oval on Saturday (September 10). While the first day was washed away due to rain, Day 2 was canceled due to the demise of the Queen Elizabeth II. England cricket paid an emotional tribute to the Queen ahead of the start of day three with a new national anthem God Save The King.

The new national anthem was sung for the first time since King Charles III took over the throne of the United Kingdom. The God Save The King anthem was last heard in February 6, 1952 when Queen Elizabeth's father King George VI was passed away. 

Both England and South African players received the guard of honour by Armed Forces while entering for the anthem. A minute's silence was ended with Senior NCO Robert Brockelsby Miller of the Irish Guards – the highest-ranked soldier present ringing the bell. Then South Africa's national anthem was sung by singer Laura Wright before England's new national anthem

“It’s always very special to stand on the ground and sing the national anthem and obviously today will have even more on it. The national anthem might be sung a little bit louder than it is normally, and rightly so. It’s great knowing that we’re going to be playing this game, not just for us but in memory of the Queen, so it’s a very special occasion for us,” England captain Ben Stokes said before the match.

The Oval crowd joined the players to sing the God Save The King anthem and and continue to applaud with clapping till James Anderson delivered the first ball.

A beautiful few moments as cricket pays its respects to Her Majesty The Queen. pic.twitter.com/3QnZiFEOKq

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 10, 2022

South Africa reject a day-extension request from England Cricket

With first two days being abandoned and the series tied 1-1, England cricket requested to extend the match to day six. But according to inews report, South Africa have rejected the request as they don't want to delay the home travel by 24 hours. 

But the same report also stated that South African cricket is not willing to take any risk to miss out on the World Test Champions (WTC) final spot. They are currently second in the WTC table with 72 points with Australia leading the standings with 84 points.