Medlycott warns do not underrate Atherton

Centurion - South Africa have been issue with a Mike Atherton warning from one of the shrewdest minds in the modern game, Keith Medlycott, the Surrey coach and former Northerns mentor.

Not every one is going to agree with the man who helped launch the era of Northerns limited-overs success for seasons ago, but he put up a convincing case on Atherton's behalf. He also warns South Africa not to be too complacent about the innings victory at the Wanderers on Sunday.

Sure, there was only one team in it, and as Hansie Cronje has admitted minimal damage in the crucial third session on the first day of the opening game of the series of five matches, did much to help. Medlycott though, who coached for several years in Northerns and did a sound job with Anton Ferreira and then Chris van Noordwyk to oversee the initial success, points out that England are a far better side than the result indicates.

Of Atherton he left no one in any doubt what the former England captain would be thinking.

"He would go back, take off his pads and look in the mirror and smile and nod to himself and think, 'Okay, I could do nothing with either ball . . .'," said Medlycott, who is hosting a group of supporters for the first and second Tests of the series.

"It's a battle between a world class batsman and a world class bowler. Donald is one up and he will be happy with that feeling.

"They will be gunning for him again in Port Elizabeth. They know that if they don't get him out early there is a long, hard slog, for them," he commented. England had worked had to be in the right frame of mind for the first Test, having had some success and hoping to peak at the right time.

"A steady, controlled, performance by England would have set up the series," was Medlycott's view. "To lose a crucial toss and have to bat first on a sub-standard Test pitch against two world-class bowlers, undid all the hard work which went into pre-game planning.

"Hopefully they are mentally tough enough to say 'Okay, this has happened, but there are still four Tests to go in this series and we can fight back'.

"I am sure, in my own mind, that if we (England) can put competitive scores on the board we will put a lot of pressure on the South Africans in the remaining matches," Medlycott added.

The Surrey coach agreed the build up to the second Test would be interesting with the pitch the deciding factor who would fall out of the England attack: the most likely candidate being Gavin Hamilton. His replacement could be Phil Tufnell, Alex Tudor or Chris Silverwood.

What favoured Hamilton was the way he hit the pitch, which was similar to the West Indian all-rounder Eldine Baptiste who had played a number of seasons for Eastern Province and was an ideal bowler for the low, slow type of conditions associated with St George's Park.

Medlycott was also of the opinion that Alex Tudor's absence from the attack through a lack of match-fitness had also harmed England's cause at the Wanderers.

"A match-fit Tudor firing away would make a big difference to the side," Medlycott said. "He's tall lad and hits the surface really hard; the unevenness of it would have created problems for the South African batsmen on first day.

"We saw with Shaun Pollock that if you get your length right and go over the top you are going to be a handful, and for me Pollock was the pick of the bowlers," he added.

What he did see, as a possibility was England bouncing back and still win this series. He is not one of those who look at last year's result in England and feel the same could happen again. It is his view that England had the bowlers to dismiss South Africa twice in a match; he had seen it happen before and it could happen again.

His thoughts were based on an appraisal of the side and he felt it was far stronger than many, including some writers, were prepared to give credit.

"We are not in a lost cause here, we are going to be up there and fighting all the way with South Africa. All we need is for the batsmen to put a good total on the board and it could make for an interesting game or two.

"Luck favours the better side and at the Wanderers it was South Africa. It could be far different in the second Test then watch out," he grinned.