England will have to be sharp and on their mettle when their South Africa tour begins in earnest this week because they can expect a frenetic and difficult start.

The Eagles provide the first opposition, followed by the Warriors on Sunday, in two 50-over games and from my experience beginning with one-dayers is harder than starting off with a longer, more gentle introduction that a three or four-day game would give you.

Tyre-d of waiting: Mahmood now has chance to prove England worth

One-day cricket by its nature is more hectic and gives you less chance to find your feet, especially if you find yourself up against decent opposition.

We saw that with Australia at the start of their 2005 Ashes tour when England hit them hard, winning the Twenty20 international at the Rose Bowl by 100 runs; 50-over defeats to Somerset, Bangladesh and England followed and it took the tourists time to recover.

Start badly in South Africa and things can quickly spiral downwards because it is a fairly unforgiving place where supporters can get on your back very quickly.

This England team is still fairly young and in transition, so Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower have been keen to stress that they can't afford to be complacent; any signs that this team is slipping or is below its best will be pounced on.

Credentials

These are big weeks for someone like Sajid Mahmood, who has not played a one-day international since the 2007 World Cup, and for the team generally.

They have got to look at their victory over South Africa in the Champions Trophy as some kind of template for what they can achieve because in even conditions they beat a top-notch side convincingly away from home - a fairly rare occurrence for England in one-day cricket!

It's important that Graham Onions kicks on and establishes himself in each of the three sides and now is the time for Luke Wright to underline his credentials. Eoin Morgan is the kind of player who has caught the eye but only over a short space of time so England will be looking for consistency from him as well.

The tourists should be helped by not having Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison around. Flower clearly thinks the latter player belongs to the past and who can blame him? Harmison would often turn up on tour unfit and wasn't a great traveller.

Flintoff obviously would have been picked if he'd been fit and not retired from Tests but - for all he brought to the team - his profile also brought along unwanted distractions.

I think the absence of these two will allow the team to hunker down and do some good training without too many diversions.

On paper the Warriors look stronger than the Eagles but you don't get many easy games in South Africa and I imagine the hosts will be more athletic and ebullient in the field.

The provinces are perhaps not as strong as they were 20-or-so years ago due to the process of positive discrimination, which has weakened the talent base a bit in some areas to match the profile of what the politicians want but England can still expect a rough ride.

Research

It is no surprise, of course, that this tour starts with two Twenty20 and five one-day internationals before we get to the four-Test series. The MCC's recent research in South Africa shows that in future we can expect more of an even split.

The results showed that fans clearly favour limited-overs over Test cricket. The signs were grim when Australia went there last year and we saw two top-class nations playing to virtually empty stadiums.

Those games were a wake-up call for Test cricket, which is why the MCC's World Cricket Committee is looking at the possibility of instituting a World Test Championship as soon as possible.

I also think that day-night cricket needs to be trialled, not in England where conditions render it useless, but in South Africa or the Caribbean so people have more of a chance to watch cricket outside of work hours.

Natural

One final word on Flintoff, who by signing a three-year-deal with Lancashire now has the facilities to further his ambitions in and around the game.

If you are going to play at the top level you have to make sure that you are fit and that you are in some kind of nick. He needs to have a place where he can play some cricket and Lancashire is a natural fit for him.

It's good for the club because they keep a high-profile player who is valuable marketing-wise but in cricketing terms, Flintoff is a non-story.

He is being propped up by various marketing opportunities to keep his name up in lights rather than feats on the field.

Lancashire coach Peter Moores must handle this issue with care because when a player is not a full part of the team but is just popping in and out - whether due to central contracts or other circumstances - it can cause problems.

back to top