No spin, but Root will never have a better chance

Both England and South Africa are vulnerable going into this high- profile series.

there is no disgrace in losing 3-0 in India, but South Africa went down 2-0 at home to Sri Lanka before that and losing five tests on the bounce is much more of a worry for them.

When you add that to their turmoil off the field and all the players they have lost, particularly to county cricket, then South Africa look a shadow of what they once were. the only surprise is that the chaos in their cricket took so long in coming.

But the concern for England, off the back of their defeat in New Zealand, is that South Africa have regrouped following the return to the coaching and management staff of several of their legends, such as Graeme Smith, Mark Boucher and Jacques Kallis.

You can be sure now that the 11 players who take the field here in Centurion for the first test today will be left in no doubt about the pride in representing South Africa that will be expected of them at all times.

So you feel there will be an upturn for the Proteas and history tells you how much England can struggle away from home but, actually, their record here is good and is in contrast to their usual problems abroad.

England have won two of the last three series here and the last time they lost a series in South Africa was 20 years ago.

Conversely, Centurion is something of a fortress for South Africa. they have played 24 tests here, winning 19 of them, drawing three and losing only two. And one of those losses was the infamous one against my side here in 2000, when hansie Cronje illicitly contrived a result.

South Africa may have named six potential debutants in their squad for today but they are players with a lot of first-class experience.

the reason England have been so bad on their travels in general is that when the ball doesn’t do anything they are left scratching their heads on how to get 20 wickets, while their batsmen struggle to make really big runs.

But South Africa is one of the few overseas destinations where the Kookaburra ball can do a bit and you do see lateral movement at times, from the swing in Johannesburg to the inconsistent bounce as the game progresses in Centurion.

And when there is something in it for England’s seamers — like the pace and carry they will get here at altitude — they are a much better side. So this is a big opportunity for them. In all honesty, England have underachieved in test cricket. I see a side who include four players who will end up as alltime greats in Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad, Joe Root and Ben Stokes. they should be doing much better than they have been.

England remain seam and swingdependent and you could see in New Zealand they had lost all faith in spin.

they seem to be thinking outside the box by saying ‘spinners don’t take wickets with the Kookaburra ball and we don’t produce great ones anyway so why don’t we stick to our strengths?’

the only problem with that is they look set to go in today with five seamers — if Stokes is able to play after the awful news about his dad Ged being taken seriously ill — and 99 per cent of the time you don’t need five seamers in a test.

England’s dilemma is that they cannot work out which one of those seamers to leave out to include a spinner. For instance, if they dropped Sam Curran or Chris Woakes and played Jack Leach he would probably have to bat at eight.

Yet you can bet if Moeen Ali was on this trip, or if Graeme Swann was still playing, then England would not be hiding behind the stats and would play a more balanced attack.

there is a fundamental lack of trust in the spinners out here.

That is obvious with young Matt Parkinson but it also seems true after New Zealand of Leach. And where will that take them in the long term if they don’t have a frontline slow bowler?

The only thing I would say is that Leach is clearly unwell again, as he was towards the end of the New Zealand tour, and if he is not fit to play then you can understand England’s thoughts for this Test. And the Centurion pitch does seem to have a lot of grass on it. History tells you that seam dominates here.

There has to be some longterm planning from England now. Ollie Pope is a real talent but, as long as he is fit enough to play today, leave him in the middle order to fully establish himself. And give Dom Sibley a proper chance alongside Rory Burns at the top of the order.

If England can get big runs against Kagiso Rabada and Vernon Philander then there should be enough in the South African pitches for their bowlers to take wickets.

But, remember, if the surface is doing things for England’s bowlers it will certainly be doing something for them too, and for Lungi Ngidi when he comes back from injury.

You can never be fully confident about England away from home and South Africa are never pushovers, but Joe Root will never have a better opportunity of winning here.