England and South Africa need to address their shortcomings

Shaun Pollock goes through his paces in the Old Trafford nets

After the disappointment of the rain at Headingley, it is ironic that the NatWest Series caravan now moves on to Old Trafford for a day/night match between England and South Africa. Manchester is not known for its droughts, and it must be hoped that the weather allows what promises to be a fascinating contest to run its full course.

The no-result recorded at Headingley proved frustrating to both England and Zimbabwe, as both of them would have fancied their chances of a win. Zimbabwe had the confidence of beating England first time out, while England were buoyed by their own victory against South Africa.

Now England must aim for back-to-back wins against South Africa, who themselves will be smarting from their defeat at The Oval. However, it is difficult to draw a form-line from the initial round of matches. What has become evident is that England's middle order has shown a certain fragility, while South Africa's bowling resources are somewhat thin.

Both teams will be striving to amend those shortcomings, while building on the progress to which both can point. For South Africa, Jacques Kallis is in fine form, with the bat at least, while Andrew Hall has emerged as an allrounder of true international class. However, there is also a doubt about their youthful captain, Graeme Smith, who injured his left shoulder in the field at Canterbury on Sunday.

England can point to Marcus Trescothick's batting form, now in partnership with Vikram Solanki whose hundred at The Oval will not be forgotten quickly by anyone who saw it, and the continuing development of Jimmy Anderson.

Add to that the progress of Chris Read, the return of Darren Gough and the growing authority of Michael Vaughan, and it is clear that the England selectors are making significant strides towards building a competitive one-day outfit.

Whether it will be good enough to achieve that second successive win over South Africa remains to be seen. What is certain that England will be hoping to win the toss and bat, to be spared the problems usually associated with batting under lights, to say nothing of having the advantage of bowling in the twilight zone.

England (probable) 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Vikram Solanki, 3 Michael Vaughan (capt), 4 Andrew Flintoff, 5 Anthony McGrath, 6 Jim Troughton, 7 Chris Read (wk), 8 Kabir Ali, 9 Richard Johnson, 10 Darren Gough, 11 James Anderson.

South Africa (probable) 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Herschelle Gibbs, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Jacques Rudolph, 5 Andrew Hall, 6 Mark Boucher (wk), 7 Martin van Jaarsveld, 8 Shaun Pollock, 9 Nicky Boje, 10 Alan Dawson, 11 Makhaya Ntini.