England Cricket 
/ Michael Vaughan / 12 April 2012 / 1 Comments 
Anderson, Swann and Pietersen are central to England's chances against South Africa
"South Africa will present England with a whole new set of challenges and the Test series could well come down to who comes out on top from a few mini-battles."
With the winter calendar completed, Michael Vaughan looks ahead to the main event of the summer as England take on South Africa. There are a number of intriguing battles that will decide the series, according to Betfair's cricket ambassador...
England have found life a lot more comfortable on home soil than they have away tours in recent times. That's not surprising in international cricket, where knowledge and experience of conditions is paramount to achieving success.
But South Africa will present England with a whole new set of challenges and the Test series could well come down to who comes out on top from a few mini-battles.
Strauss v Smith -The conductor or the motivator?
You'll rarely find two more contrasting personalities in cricket than Graeme Smith and Andrew Strauss. Or styles of captaincy. Strauss is the understated type, the cool head, the quiet man of international cricket captaincy. Smith is all pats on the back, clapping of the hands, vocal involvement in the game. Their records are both extremely good and I wouldn't say one is better than the other.
Pietersen v Kallis - The showman and the rock
Batsmen have come and gone for these two sides but for the best part of a decade Kevin Pietersen and Jacques Kallis have remained the prize scalps for their respective teams. If KP is all flamboyance and entertainment with his unorthodox shots and lightning quick strike rates, Kallis is almost your old-school Test number three. Solid technique, patience, gradual accumulation of runs and very hard to dislodge. Again, I'd find it very hard to pick one over the other.
Swann v Tahir - Off-spinner trumps leg spinner
South African Test cricket has been crying out for wicket-taking spinner for ages and in Imran Tahir they've got one. But the leg-spinner hasn't had experience of international cricket for that long and, for my money, he bowls a few too many bad balls. It's not the four runs that's the problem, it's the relieving of the pressure on the batsmen and the fact it means the two guys at the crease can rotate the strike - essential in cricket in any format.
Graeme Swann was back to something like his best in the second Test in Sri Lanka and remains an incredibly consistent performer. Tahir is no stranger to English conditions, he's had several spells at numerous English counties, but Swann should win this particular battle.
Anderson v Steyn - The swinger and the speedster
We're probably talking about the two best fast bowlers in the world here so there's unlikely to be much in it. I don't think anyone in the game is more deadly when the ball is swinging than James Anderson, who can of course make it bend both ways. Time and time again we've seen the Lancashire man single-handedly demolish batting line-ups for few runs when it's doing something.
But raw pace is a priceless commodity and few can live with Dale Steyn when he's in full flow. Like Anderson, he's an incredible athlete who will bowl all day for you and has that little bit of channelled aggression that all the great 'quicks' have boasted. This may be the key battle of the lot but the only certainty is no batsmen will be looking forward to facing either of them this summer.
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The betting markets for this series are not live yet but there is plenty of cricket to bet on right now.
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