Do the England selectors deserve a pat?

England might be very pleased with themselves, up 1-0 in the Test series in South Africa, but it is reasonable to question whether the selectors have been vindicated, says Duncan Fletcher in the Guardian.

England have been unable to bowl out South Africa in two Tests. And if those games were played out again, South Africa would have won them far more often than not...Durban aside, these were not convincing results. England's seamers have been out‑bowled and that has put the batsmen under enormous pressure. So you have to conclude that while the batsmen have done their job, the bowlers have not.

Kevin Pietersen had a hunted look when he left the field in Cape Town after being dismissed for the second time. The present circumstances call for a serious statement of intent, and James Lawton in the Independent believes the timing could not be better for Pietersen to re-establish some of his old aura .

In his blog on the Wisden Cricketer website, John Stern believes there's plenty of evidence to indicate that England are doing more than okay without Andrew Flintoff.

Graeme Smith's side are on the verge of being the first pot-isolation South Africa team not to win at least one Test in an entire home summer. Rob Houwing fears the widespread recriminations in Sport24.co.za.

Ashwell Prince is fighting to save his career at the moment, after being one of South Africa's most prolific batsmen over the past three years. Zaahier Adams in iol.co.za finds it strange that South Africa would risk an untested opener in Prince when an experienced one in AB De Villiers, who has done the job at Test and franchise level before, was available.

With regard to Makhaya Ntini, Mike Atherton in the Times queries why there has only been one black African cricketer of note in the past 15 years.

Three of Tsolekile’s peer group in Langa went on to play for the South Africa football team. Football is an African game here, in a way that cricket and rugby union cannot match. And with the football World Cup coming, and investment aimed almost solely at making sure the tournament is a success [— 12 billion rands (about £992 million) is being spent on building or redeveloping football stadiums ]— cricket is likely to fall even farther behind.