England’s solitary Test victory in Centurion came courtesy of some uncharacteristic South African generosity. Hansie Cronje’s crookedness soiled a proud, unbeaten record for the home team at this ground and if England are to add to that victory in 2000 over the coming days, they will need to offer something more than a leather jacket and a fistful of dollars.
But, like David Haye and Nikolay Valuev, who recently gave the world an exhibition in non-contact sport, England and South Africa are circling each other warily at the outset of this series. Faced with difficult choices over the make-up of their final XIs, both are likely to opt for the conservative route, bolstering the batting at the expense of added firepower.
South Africa have confirmed that Jacques Kallis will play, but only as a batsman, and although England will delay naming their side until this morning, Ian Bell will probably bat at No 6, so preventing Luke Wright from making his debut. Both choices are determined partly by the desire to avoid defeat in this first match and partly by the look of the pitch yesterday, which was green, mottled, a little underprepared and likely to put runs at a premium.
It was a surface that brought some startled looks from the travelling English contingent, although Graeme Smith seemed less than perturbed. He intimated that the pitch could undergo something of a transformation before the start of play and with the forecast set fair, the South Africa captain said he was “99 per cent certain” that Paul Harris, the left-arm spinner, would play.
Smith, though, seemed less bullish than normal in his general demeanour, acutely aware, no doubt, that his team have played precious little Test cricket of late. Only four Tests this calendar year, the last being in March, must be of some concern.
Smith said that his squad was mature enough to cope with the problem and that their training camp in Potchefstroom had gone well. Even so, it can take even the most experienced a while to rediscover the rhythms of Test cricket.
England, too, must rediscover their inner patience, because they have had a glut of one-day cricket since the Ashes were won. Andrew Strauss is conscious of what happened to the England team 2005 vintage after the previous Ashes success and he is keen to avoid that complacency this time around. A good start here would confirm England’s focus and set them on the road to becoming the No 1-ranked team in the world, the stated long-term aim of Strauss and Andy Flower, the team director.
But for all the focus, determination and togetherness that are the obvious hallmarks of this England team, reaching those giddy heights requires a little more devil than they possess at present. The absence of Stephen Harmison and Andrew Flintoff will ask questions of England’s bowling attack and the fear must be that the doubts surrounding James Anderson’s fitness, Ryan Sidebottom’s effectiveness, Stuart Broad’s form and Graham Onions’s lack of experience in Test cricket away from home will weigh on the touring team heavily.
There are enough question marks about the batting, too, to suggest that Strauss’s men will have their work cut out to emulate last summer’s success. Alastair Cook needs to dispel the doubts that persist around off stump; Jonathan Trott is relishing the afterglow of the Brit Oval, but still has much to prove; Kevin Pietersen, for the moment at least, seems a little short on swagger; while Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood carry their perennial doubters around wherever they go.
For Pietersen, this tour represents a watershed. No longer the impetuous youth who smashed the hosts to kingdom come in his first appearances in an England shirt, he is older, wiser and burdened by events in his short reign as captain, by impending fatherhood and by the attentions under which a team’s best player must routinely operate. It promises to be a fascinating few weeks for him.
Yesterday Strauss was bullish about his star player’s prospects. “I think KP found himself in quite an unfamiliar situation at the start of this tour,” he said. “He had been playing cricket almost continuously for God knows how long and it’s probably the first time in his England career that he has had time away and had to find his feet again. That’s taken some adjusting to and you have to build your way up through the gears.
“I am very happy with the way he has been going about things. He has been training exceptionally hard. I think he has looked better and better, and being the type of person he is, he will want to have a massive impact on the series. When you combine that motivation with his skills, I think that’s a pretty good recipe.”
The biggest reason for optimism is England’s preparation, which has been given a considerable tweak. When England beat West Indies in the first Test of last summer, it ended a sequence of six series during which England had failed to get off to a winning start. Much thought has been given to England’s winter preparation since then, hence the presence of the Performance Programme squad that has been working in parallel with the senior party in South Africa.
Senior players, such as Cook and Bell, have used the opportunity to spend time away from netting to get valuable time in the middle and the selectors have used the presence of the Performance squad to bolster competition for places in the senior party, drafting in the likes of Mark Davies and James Tredwell.
The cost of sending a 14-man squad to Pretoria for a month has been about £100,000 but the twofold advantages of preparing young players for senior duty and giving the England team competition and cover should not be underestimated. England will mirror this winter’s plans in Australia in 2010-11, as well as playing three four-day warm-up games. Increasingly, professional sport is about covering every conceivable base; excuses are now thin on the ground.
Series between these teams rarely produce anything but feisty, competitive cricket and the next five weeks promise more of the same. It is strange to see South Africa fighting shy of favouritism and that possibly suggests some level of self-doubt.
But they have the considerable advantage of home conditions, a core of hardened Test players and, if the likes of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel find their range, a little more devil than England. If the pitch in Centurion offers movement, England have it in them to surprise the home team from the outset. But South Africa ought to improve through the series. Take them to squeak home.
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