England's first Test against South Africa starts Thursday at Lord's with the outcome likely to hinge on which of the contrasting bowling attacks best comes to terms with the conditions. With rain dampening the field Wednesday and forecast to last much of the next five days, England's swing bowlers may be expected to come out on top, but the home batsmen are about to come up against the sort of pace they've not faced in a while. Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel will lineup alongside Makhaya Ntini in an attack already drawing comparisons with the great West Indies pacemen of the 1980s, when Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh terrorized batsmen to establish their team as the best in the world. “I certainly think there is potential for them to be like that,” South Africa coach Mickey Arthur said. “They've got a long way to go, but these guys are hugely exciting. It really is going to be a treat to watch them bowl this summer.” England is coming off a resounding Test series win over New Zealand, but Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell are struggling for runs and are likely to be targeted by an intimidatingly well-balanced bowling attack. Ntini took 10 wickets at Lord's on South Africa's last tour in 2003, while all-rounder Jacques Kallis and slow left-armer Paul Harris fill out the other places. The home side will be looking to opener Andrew Strauss to find some of the form he showed in the winter of 2004-05 when he stuck 656 runs in five Tests in South Africa - a huge achievement for a player on his first overseas tour. “More pace on the ball provides more opportunities as well, because you need less of a bat on it for it to go to the boundary,” Strauss said. “If they bowl well it's going to be hard work, but if they are slightly off line, there may well be more opportunities to score.” And crucial to South Africa's performance will be how the young pair of Steyn and Morkel cope with expectations. The 23-year-old Morkel has played just six Tests. What it all means is that if England starts looking too far ahead toward next year's Ashes series against Australia, South Africa is in a prime position to take advantage. Settled, however, is exactly what England is. In announcing the team on Wednesday, England became the first side ever to name an unchanged lineup for six straight test matches. What Arthur is referring to is that England has had to cope without the bowling lineup that led it to the 2005 Ashes. Allrounder Andrew Flintoff is seemingly over a niggling ankle problem and trained with the squad at Lord's on Wednesday, but won't be considered for selection until the second Test at the earliest. “We don't have bowling of 90-95 mph,” England captain Michael Vaughan said. “But it's not always about that. We have an attack that relies more on the control side. “It has not got the pace it used to have, but I think they've got a decent amount of skill.” Stuart Broad, James Anderson and, particularly, Ryan Sidebottom have performed well without their colleagues and keep their places against South Africa. But Arthur isn't exactly worried by the prospect. “Against New Zealand, they were very good and very steady, and did a good job as a unit,” Arthur said. “But what they did lack was the genuine pace of a Flintoff, Steve Harmison, or even a Simon Jones.” - AP __
