The best available bowling attack of Darren Gough, Angus Fraser and Dominic Cork will bowl together for only the fourth time, and the first since the Johannesburg Test of 1995, but they will prosper only if all three bowl with their heads as well as their hearts and are supported by reliable catching.
Things have gone almost incredibly well for the South Africans since they played the first match of their tour of England only three weeks ago. They have won seven out of eight games and as they practised in the nets under leaden skies yesterday they had every reason for confidence.
Even the five members of the side who have played recent county cricket would be forgiven for thinking that the English game really has gone soft, so meekly did Worcestershire and Gloucestershire fade away to defeat in their two first-class matches.
South Africa are an ordinary batting side - only Gary Kirsten, Brian McMillan, Daryll Cullinan and Hansie Cronje average above 35 in Tests and none of them over 40 - but they compensate for that by having so many all-rounders and their look of near invincibility is based largely on the possession of two true thoroughbred fast bowlers. The issue will turn, in this match and the four to come, on the trial of strength betwen Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock on one hand and an England top six whose only unestablished player is Mark Butcher.
In nine Tests since last autumn, against Pakistan, Australia and Sri Lanka, Donald has taken 49 wickets at 19. In 11 Tests, Pollock has taken 43 at 23, besides making over 500 runs. Angus Fraser performed no less startling feats in the West Indies, but Gough and Cork are going to have to sustain fitness and form over long periods if recent trends are to be reversed this season and beyond.
The contrast between the South Africans' rapid discovery of imposing form and Australia's halting progress this time last year is extraordinary. Mark Taylor's team had also come from a busy winter and a brief break; but they were not so lucky with the weather, they lost a match to Worcestershire, all three one-day internationals and, when it came to it, the Edgbaston Test too.
They went on, of course, to add to the list of defeats which England have suffered at home and abroad in series of five matches or more since the Ashes were last won under Mike Gatting in 1986-87.
In that time England have played 14 five or six-Test series, won none of them and drawn only two. They have won 12 individual Tests but lost no fewer than 37. It is a dreadful record and, as Alec Stewart says, it is about time the rot was stopped. The new leader's philosophy is to help his players relax and feel comfortable enough to play their natural games. ``I want the dressing-room to be a homely, open place,'' he said.
Dean Headley remains the most likely omission from the 12. The pitch was covered against showers yesterday but when last spotted it looked true and evenly grassed. It is softer than had been hoped but the improved weather forecast for today has not stopped the bookies from making a draw the favourite.
The Texaco Trophy was only third on South Africa's list of priorities for this tour - the Tests come first for them and the triangular tournament with England and Sri Lanka second. They won the first two internationals with something to spare, but it does not follow that a tough, accomplished and unified team will necessarily prove superior in the five-day games too, if the Gough/Fraser/Cork combination perform as they could.
If England want to draw consolation from the internationals they can focus on the way that Gough got Kirsten out twice and might have had him four or five times at Headingley; from the inexperience of Gerry Liebenberg and his particular vulner- ability to good-length outswingers; and from the fact that Pat Symcox, a much improved off-spinner, is deemed to be only the second choice slow bowler behind cricket's favourite contortionist, Paul Adams, who deals mainly in googlies and can be played as a steady but rather flat orthodox left-armer. His three wickets in two first-class matches on tour have cost 47 each.
Whether Adams will play is not yet certain. Jonty Rhodes, that epitome of South African fitness, dedication, assurance and determination, has seized the No 6 position by right after his 123 earlier this week. The final choice seems to lie between Adams and McMillan, whose absence would weaken the slip catching and deprive the team of one of three former Warwickshire players.
Donald and Pollock feel at home at Edgbaston but the 1994 side did not play here and of South Africa's 47 previous Tests in England only three have been on this ground, the last of them in 1960. This remains one of England's luckier grounds.
Both captains believe in tough cricket but they will need to draw a line. Donald's belligerent roar when he got Nick Knight out in the international at Old Trafford, pointedly directed at his county team-mate, demonstrated South Africa's belief, not discouraged by their English coach, that there is nothing wrong with hating your opponents on the field. But aggression has to be contolled if it is to be effective and the International Cricket Council referee, Javed Burki, will have to check that both sides strike a proper balance between hostility and chivalry.
ENGLAND (from): M A Atherton, M A Butcher, N Hussain, *+A J Stewart, G P Thorpe, M R Ramprakash, M A Ealham, D W Headley, D G Cork, R D B Croft, D Gough, A R C Fraser.
SOUTH AFRICA (from): G Kirsten, G F J Liebenberg, J H Kallis, *W J Cronje, D J Cullinan, J N Rhodes, B M McMillan, -M V Boucher, S M Pollock, L Klusener, P R Adams, A A Donald.
Umpires: David Shepherd (England) and Russel Tiffin (Zimbabwe).
Third umpire: John Hampshire.
Match referee: Javed Burki (Pakistan).