Thursday 6 July 2017 16:35, UK
We look at the form of five of South Africa's key players ahead of the Test series against England which starts on Thursday, live on Sky Sports 2.
The South Africans have a good away record against England in recent times, but is this a strong Proteas side? We take a closer look at the form of some of their key players.
Dean Elgar
In five innings against Sri Lanka during the 2016-17 tour, Dean Elgar notched two fifties and a century, with 27 his lowest total in a fruitful series.
In March the Proteas headed to New Zealand, where the left-hander kicked off his tour with scores of 140 and 89 in the first Test to continue his run-scoring form.
However, since then the 30-year-old has struggled, hitting only 36 runs from his next four visits to the crease at an average of just nine.
With Faf du Plessis out of the first Test, the pressure is on Elgar not just to lead the team, but to provide stability in the form of top-order runs against England's bowling attack.
As one of the few truly senior players in South Africa's batting line-up, Elgar needs to lead from the front against England.
Kagiso Rabada
With the recent run of injuries suffered by Dale Steyn, more emphasis has been piled on Kagiso Rabada to provide South Africa with a strike threat in their bowling attack. Fortunately for the Proteas, the 22-year-old has been steadily delivering.
Rabada made his debut in 2015, and since then has picked up 71 wickets at an average of 23.69 and an impressive strike rate of 40.84. Against England, Rabada's figures are even better; an average of 21.90 and a strike rate of 29.90.
The likelihood is that South Africa's fragile batting order will struggle to amass big totals during the series, so the ability of their bowlers to take 20 wickets in a Test becomes all the more important, and Rabada offers his team that ability.
The fast bowler has taken 23 wickets in eight innings this year, with his 6-55 against Sri Lanka the pick of the performances, so his form is strong coming into this series.
Hashim Amla
Hashim Amla enjoys playing against England. In 2012 he scored 311 not out at the Oval, the highest score by any South African in Tests, and two of his four double centuries have come against England - the other conjured up in Cape Town at the beginning of 2016.
The rest of the 2016 series bore mixed results for Amla; he failed in both innings of the Johannesburg Test (40 & 5) but then cashed in at Centurion (109 & 93) the following week.
In the 19 innings that followed gainst all opposition, Amla has registered three fifties and one century, and in 10 of those innings he managed scores of less than 25.
So far in 2017 Amla has batted nine times in Tests and has one century and one half-century to his name, so the Cape Cobras batsman - who needs 123 runs to surpass AB de Villiers as South Africa's third-best runs scorer in history - is in need of a string of performances to regain the form that saw him plunder in 2012.
Vernon Philander
Vernon Philander was the man to wrap up South Africa's series victory against England in 2012, taking 5-30 in the final innings of the Lord's Test to secure a 51-run victory and a 2-0 series win.
That series is the only time Philander has bowled against England, so he will be raring to go if and when he's given the ball at Lord's.
Against Sri Lanka earlier this year Philander picked up 17 wickets, but against New Zealand he struggled for a breakthrough. The seamer took 2-67 in the second innings of a wash-out draw in Dunedin and did not take any wickets in the Tests that followed in Wellington and Hamilton.
As one of the senior bowlers in the Proteas outfit, Philander will need to pull his weight if his side is to avenge last year's series loss to England.
Faf du Plessis
Faf du Plessis has an average of 44.92 in 40 Tests for South Africa, but in three Tests against England the 32-year-old has an average of just 25.40.
Not only has Du Plessis struggled against England in the past, he is struggling for scores in general at the moment. In his last 16 innings the South Africa skipper has notched just one century - and that knock was in vain as his side were beaten by seven wickets in Adelaide last year.
As one of the more experienced Proteas batsmen his single century in the last calendar year is cause for concern, and to compound matters he is currently away from the team following the birth of his child.
While nobody would begrudge him time with his family for such an important moment, the fact is he could find himself coming straight into the line-up for the second Test with little time to prepare, and on the back of no time spent in the nets.
There is no questioning the hard-nose mentality of the Proteas skipper, but will he be able to hit the ground running when he finally gets to the crease?
Watch England's opening Test match of the summer against South Africa live on Sky Sports 2 HD from Thursday.
