Battle of wits looms as first Test shapes up

Johannesburg: On their recent form England, if we are to look at their record against New Zealand, do not so much represent collecting a prized scalp for South Africa as whipping off a bald mans toupee.

Yet Hansie Cronje would be the first to admit to caution and not to reject the theory that England are a far better side than their lowly bottom rung spot on the current Test ladder with minnows Zimbabwe just above them.

He has all too clear memories of how South Africa lost their last series 2-1 yet bounced back to hammer the West Indies by a record 5-0 margin, go on to sweep away New Zealand 1-0 and now Zimbabwe 2-0. The last two named sides are just ranked above England and Cronje was not about to turn the screws, though Kepler Wessels, his former captain and now a national selector suggested they might as well not turn up to this contest.

As Allan Donald, finally passed fit after a lengthy bowling session, said yesterday, the series is a lot more than his battle with Mike Atherton, which was described as a ``one on one contest''. There are a lot of other players who slot in as strong possibilities who can show their true strength and character over the 30 days of the five Tests are played.

Winning the high ground, as they like to call it these days, is very much with the three top seamers on either side, and whether Paul Adams will become only the second spinner to take 100 wickets in a Test career. That is a bit of a shock for those who have to work out just who, after Hugh Tayfield, were the countrys most successful spin bowlers.

Donald apart, South Africa face the challenge of whether David Terbrugge is to be brought in as the extra seamer and leave out Adams. The pitch looked damp yesterday and with so much rain about it, the selectors have a few problems of their own.

England have, quite remarkably, a similar problem. Already bowlers such as Andrew Caddick, the New Zealand born-Somerset seamer has had a long wait for David Graveneys selection committee to recognise his ability. And with Darren Gough and the left-armer Alan Mullally part of the trio, South Africas batsmen are going to face a far tougher bowling attack than that they played in England last year.

Mullally is seen as the key bowler in their attack: a quick left-arm bowler who nips the ball back and dips it away as well, he was quite a revelation during this years World Cup where he was often a menace against all teams except South Africa at The Oval.

Gavin Hamilton, like Michael Vaughan, a new cap, awaits his fate, more on how much heavy cloud-cover is about. He bowled brilliantly in spells last weekend in Centurion but so did Andrew Flintoff who is likely to be the fourth seamer.

Another new cap, Sussex captain, Chris Adams, is about the one batsman with flair in the side as Vaughan is too much like Atherton, and England have not had a batsman of genuine flair since David Gower was passed over. There have been a couple of pretenders in Nick Knight and John Crawley, but they have been found out and put aside.

There is a bother about how Herschelle Gibbs and Gary Kirsten are going to shape up after their lengthy break with injuries and recalled after the patch up job handled by Boeta Dippenaar and Adam Bacher.

Gibbs has looked in good form in the nets and, whatever anyone may suggest or feel, is the one batsmen on either side with a genuine touch of batting flair.

Whether he can handle the new ball being delivered by this particular group of England seamers is another matter.

They are far sharper than North West and are far more lively with it. An intriguing contest looms.

South Africa (from): Gary Kirsten, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Daryll Cullinan, Hansie Cronje (capt), Jonty Rhodes, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusener, Allan Donald, David Terbrugge, Paul Adams. Twelfth man: Boeta Dippenaar.

England (from): Mark Butcher, Mike Atherton, Nasser Hussain (capt), Michael Vaughan,Alec Stewart, Chris Adams, Andrew Flintoff, Gavin Hamilton, Andrew Caddick, Darren Gough, Alan Mullally, Phil Tufnell. Umpires: Dave Orchard (RSA) and Srinivas Venkataraghavan (India); TV umpire: Rudi Koertzen. Hours of play: 10.30am-12.30 pm; 1.10-3.10pm; 3.30-5.30 (or 90 overs).