With the New Zealand series unfairly written off as a warm-up, the main event of the summer commences next week at Lord’s. South Africa arrive for their fourth tour of England since readmission, with their sights firmly set on regaining second place in the Test rankings.

These teams have played six series since 1994, winning two apiece and drawing two. They again appear evenly matched and both outfits can point to their continuity as markers of success.

England equalled a 123 year old record in the series finale against New Zealand by fielding the same team five times in succession, whilst the Proteas were unchanged throughout three Tests in their creditable 1-1 draw in India earlier this year.

The hosts have to solve the Andrew Flintoff dilemma, but we are unlikely to see wholesale changes during the series and the players will be well-acquainted by the time they reach the Oval in August. There is no love lost between them and this could be a spicy encounter full of personal battles.

The conflict between Graeme Smith and Kevin Pietersen is well-known and each will be desperate to be the key performer with the bat this summer. They reserve their best form for this series’ opponents and will be well-backed in the respective top batsman markets.

Smith might not shake off a hamstring problem for Lord’s, which is reason enough to look elsewhere. Any team that can afford to leave Herschelle Gibbs out of their squad must have some serious firepower and I will again look towards Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla. Kallis knows how to score runs over here and is my selection, despite under performing in India.

The Proteas’ pace attack might be the key factor in deciding the outcome of the series. The experienced Makhaya Ntini and Kallis should be upstaged by Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, who tour England for the first time.

Steyn, second on the all-time strike rate list and the fastest South African to 100 Test wickets, has not let me down in previous series and I see no reason why he shouldn’t again be the tourists’ top wicket taker. Paul Harris, eight wickets at 51 in India, will surely be out bowled by Monty Panesar, who is a decent bet to be England’s leading wicket taker.

Ball dominated bat earlier in the summer but we should see some high totals, especially if the sun continues to shine. Six batsmen averaged more than 50 in the 2003 meeting between these two and punters should expect some more big tons in a series that South Africa will edge 2-1.



Written by Philip Oliver, a professional sports writer who blogs about cricket betting at the online sports betting blog from Betfair.