The summer picks up speed

It's time to wave goodbye to New Zealand's trundlers and welcome Dale Steyn and his charismatic chums. South Africa's pace attack should inspire their English counterparts to crank up their pace, which means more fast bowling thrills and hostile spells. Kevin Pietersen's duel with the fast bowlers will form a vital strand of the series, writes Steve James in the Sunday Telegraph.

A pace attack of Steyn, Makhaya Ntini, Morne Morkel and Jacques Kallis merits careful consideration. It not only has gas, but variety too: the skiddy, swinging Steyn; the wide-of-the-crease, hitting-the-pitch-hard Ntini; the unadulterated bounce of the 6ft 6in Morkel and the sparingly used Kallis, with know-how of when best to release an increasingly creaky handbrake.

In the same paper, Scyld Berry feels England need to be wary of Neil McKenzie, South Africa's new opening batsman whose Test career has entered a refreshingly-new phase.

The obvious option would have been to emigrate to English county cricket, and the pound sterling, but McKenzie saw Test cricket as the ultimate; and he has more roots, more depth. "It would have been easy to run away, and at Somerset there were some talks about 'Kolpaking'. But the will to play for South Africa and the unfinished business - I'd let myself down giving my wicket away and averaging only early-mid thirties."

In the Sunday Times, John Stern looks forward to an exciting duel between Dale Steyn and Pietersen.

There has been so much water under the bridge, so much trash talk, so many ego clashes that this contest cannot fail to move. This will not be a goalless draw. In one corner is KP himself, his star back in the ascendant after a moderate winter. In the other corner is Dale Steyn, the irresistible force of world cricket, the fresh-faced 90-mile-an-hour quick who has taken 78 Test wickets at 16 since the start of May last year and the rightful heir to Allan Donald’s “White Lightning” throne.

In the same paper, Simon Wilde compares the two captains - Graeme Smith and Michael Vaughan - and feels Smith's side has a more settled look.

Smith has matured greatly since Vaughan last crossed swords with him in the Test arena. In those days, Smith exhibited the insecurity of a young man who had been catapulted into the captaincy. He went out of his way to convince everyone, not least himself, that he was worthy of the job. But now, Smith has plenty of younger players under him prepared to follow his lead unquestioningly.

In the Observer, Allan Donald chats with Will Buckley on the forthcoming series, his famous duel with Michael Atherton at Trent Bridge, South African cricket post readmission and the fateful final over at Edgbaston which cost South Africa a shot at lifting the 1999 World Cup.

"It was the most disgusting thing that could happen. A shocking place to be. Not a lot of people came up to me and said "bad luck". 'To get over it I had to watch it. And I watched it again and again and again.' The headlines in South Africa were not friendly. 'There was one saying "Donald, don't bother coming home". And when I arrived back the first person I met at one of the gates looked at me and said, "What are you doing back here?" That's how serious it was.