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England cannot afford to prepare for their winter series in South Africa in the same way that they ``prepared'' for this series against New Zealand. Success in modern Test cricket, when every country has a professional team, lies in the preparation.

England went into this series against New Zealand without a coach, as the England and Wales Cricket Board thought an interregnum between David Lloyd and Duncan Fletcher was sufficient; without a captain until a week before the series began, and therefore without a well thought out strategy as well; and without enough first-class form behind them. The ECB scheduled a fortnight of one-day cricket before the first Test at Edgbaston, and from that moment England have batted abysmally.

Such inadequate preparation might have sufficed before World Series Cricket, when England were the professionals and most of the other Test countries were amateurs: simply turning up was often enough in those days of un-level playing fields. But it will not do now, even at home to bottom-ranked New Zealand, and certainly not in South Africa this winter.

For the moment selection is the main form of preparation which England can make for the tour: on Wednesday they are going to announce a party of 17. But those who are chosen must be picked as part of an overall plan which has to include winning the first-class games before the Test series to blot out the memory of this summer, and intensive work on fielding and running between wickets, two fundamental areas in which the health of every team is discernible and in which New Zealand have consistently out-performed England. More discipline all round might ensue.

England have three first-class matches before the first Test in Johannesburg, and tough ones they are, too, as in each case two provincial sides will be combined to form the opposition (thus Western Province and Boland, or Gauteng and Northerns as Transvaal and Northern Transvaal have been renamed). If England can defeat such sturdy opposition, South Africa will have their share of doubts forced to the surface.

Should Hansie Cronje have the paramount control which he has been given since Bob Woolmer's retirement as coach? Should he be captain at all, as he has led South Africa up many a difficult mountain but never yet to the summit (Shaun Pollock led them to the gold medal at the last Commonwealth Games)? What about the quota system designed to make the team a truly national one? And who is going to stop Mike Atherton, a demon in South African mythology, who thwarted them at Johannesburg on England's last tour, and again at Trent Bridge last year, when South Africa were deprived of one tangible if modest prize, a series victory in England?

Atherton does not have to be wrapped in cotton wool, but a corset would be sensible, and so would exemption from the two one-day games which start the tour. Six other batsmen have to be chosen including Nasser Hussain, and Graham Thorpe (vice-captain), Mark Ramprakash, Mark Butcher and Alec Stewart pick themselves, if not on any weight of runs then simply faut de mieux. The argument that would give youngsters - anybody! - a chance has to recognise the technical weaknesses which a county system loaded with oneday cricket engenders, not exposes.

Darren Maddy's grip, which closes the face of his bat too soon in his offside driving, is the latest in the list of examples. One of the few alternatives - as England have openers in Atherton and Butcher, and in Stewart, too, if the plan to make him keep wicket has to be revised - is the maturer Sussex version of Chris Adams. England, though, have always had a visceral aversion to flair batsmen, and a weak batting side cannot afford to wait long for such a player to come off, as Australia could with Doug Walters. The likelihood of Adams succeeding against South Africa's tight lines of attack and brilliant fielding must be slim.

Ronnie Irani needs a substantial second innings in this Test, to offset his unlucky first dismissal, if he is to take the allrounder's position ahead of Andy Flintoff, who was simultaneously scoring 160 against Yorkshire. Flintoff has to broaden his game from its front-foot base, and South Africa is as good a place as any to learn, and against their fast bowlers; his bowling has more potential, too, as he gets more bounce than Irani. The third contender, Gavin Hamilton, has to learn to do more with the ball to complement his other virtues.

England's greatest strength - their only current strength - lies in their pace bowlers, of whom they will need six as they might just play four in one of the Tests on the High Veld, at Centurion, a suburb of Pretoria, and Johannesburg, where the pitches are harder, more abrasive and favourable to reverseswing.