South Africa hardly needed the motivation of the £600 fine and suspended sentence imposed by the International Cricket Council on their champion fast bowler, Allan Donald, for undiplomatic language which was the more culpable for the fact that his words were not uttered in the heat of the battle. Judge Ebrahim's eloquent defence of Merv Kitchen and of Test umpires generally is timely and they should help the umpires in this game, Peter Willey and Javed Akhtar, both relatively inexperienced.

Donald's high reputation rightly counted in his favour in the judgment. Like Mark Ramprakash, he has to watch his step but for him the affair is already water under the bridge and it is more relevant now that he has bowled with immense heart and devil, not to mention exceptional pace and skill, since performing wildly at Edgbaston.

Donald, more than any of the 21 other players, holds the key to what promises to be another close and intense match, though it is more likely to be attritional than spectacular. He has taken five wickets in an innings in each of the last three games, 25 in the series at 21. All this on top of a winter's work which earned him 42 wickets at 17 runs each against three strong batting sides: Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. These are almost phenomenal figures and Donald himself has no qualms about building this game into something special. He called it yesterday ``the most important victory we can ever achieve''.

The forecast is mainly for sunny weather, which can make batting at Headingley a pleasure rather than the purgatory it often is in cloudy conditions. Whether Donald and the other fast bowlers on both sides will get much help from Andy Fogarty's pitch is questionable. For the brief moments that the Yorkshire groundsman was prepared to uncover it in yesterday's sunshine and breezes, it appeared to have less grass than the one at Trent Bridge and a surreptitious bounce test suggested one of those ``slow and low'' surfaces which give no particular assistance to anyone.

The sight of the covers will hardly have encouraged Ian Salisbury on one side or Pat Symcox on the other to hope that they will make the final eleven this morning. Since 1980 there have been 26 five-wicket analyses by bowlers in Headingley Tests and only one of them, John Emburey in 1985, has been achieved by a spinner. In the last five years English spinners have taken only seven wickets here - one of them by Michael Atherton - but that has something to do with the fact that against Australia in 1993 and Pakistan two seasons ago no specialist spinner was picked. Australia responded with 600-plus against an attack comprising McCague, Ilott, Bicknell and Caddick; Pakistan made 448 against Caddick, Mullally, Lewis and Cork.

The evidence does not make for an easy selection decision for either side today. South Africa, who, to England's advantage, have stuck by Gerry Liebenberg as their opening batsman, may themselves opt for four specialist fast bowlers. Makhaya Ntini, Steve Elworthy and Brian McMillan were all said to be in the running as support for Donald, Shaun Pollock - surely a bowler who will enjoy Headingley - and the versatile Jacques Kallis.

Symcox is in danger of the unusual record of having scored a hundred in his final Test (at No 10, too) if he is not included. He has superseded Paul Adams, who has taken 13 Test wickets but whose 17 on the tour have been twice as expensive as Symcox's 12.

Logic suggests that Symcox and Ian Salisbury should play. Much the best way for either side to win in the expected conditions will be to bat first and hope for some of Headingley's traditional uneven bounce as the pitch wears.

If Salisbury plays, the choice between Dominic Cork and Alan Mullally will be ticklish. Both have made interesting modifications to their actions of late, Cork as recently as the middle of the Trent Bridge Test when Bob Cottam, who is expected to continue as England's bowling coach this winter, persuaded him to open his body a fraction in his delivery stride. The outswing duly returned.

Mullally also attributes the greater potency of his inswinger to the position of his feet. He used to bowl from wider of the stumps to avoid running on to the pitch but since the extension of the 'danger area' to five feet, he has been able to get closer, to great effect.

Cork certainly looked innocuous in the first innings at Nottingham but it would be a pity to risk his frail confidence by leaving him out after a generally successful return and, with Angus Fraser and Darren Gough, he represents England's best fast-bowling combination.

It is to Gough, naturally, that England look first for a matchwinning performance on his home ground. He is at the peak of his game and the stakes are high, with a £200,000 winning bonus for the team if they can come back from being one-down in a series for the first time since David Gower's side achieved it in India in 1984-85. The players need no reminding, either, that if they win here it will be their first success in a home series of more than three games since 1985, and their first in any five-match series since 1986-87.

Whatever the expectation of a public suddenly hooked on cricket again, Stewart has warned his team against getting too charged up, as they did, with disastrous effect, when Gough and Devon Malcolm shared the new ball here against the West Indies in 1995. ``We're treating it as we would any Test,'' Stewart said. ``It's no good getting excited or giddy. If you do you can lose focus.''

Twenty-twenty vision is certainly required if a very determined South African side are to be beaten again and if England are to set out for Australia in October having proved that, at last, they can make a habit of winning.

England (from): M A Atherton, M A Butcher, N Hussain, *-A J Stewart, G A Hick, M A Ramprakash, A Flintoff, D G Cork, I D K Salisbury, D Gough, A R C Fraser, A D Mullally.

South Africa (from): G Kirsten, G F J Liebenberg, J H Kallis, D J Cullinan, *W J Cronje, J N Rhodes, S M Pollock, -M V Boucher, S Elworthy, M Ntini, A A Donald, P R Adams, P L Symcox, B M McMillan.

Umpires: P Willey (England) & J Akhtar (Pakistan).

Third umpire: R Palmer (England). Match referee: A Ebrahim (Zimbabwe).

Headingley Statistics

Donald factor the key to England winning series

The first Test played at Headingley was against Australia, in 1899, and ended in a draw. The Test against South Africa will be the 60th at this venue. England have won 24, lost 18 and drawn 17.

South Africa have won only once here, in 1955, when second-innings centuries were scored by D J McGlew (133) and W R Endean (116 not) in a total of 500. England, requiring 481 for victory, were bowled out for 256 with T L Goddard taking five for 69 and H J Tayfield five for 94. England have won five times, with three draws.

England's last Test victory here was against Pakistan in 1992, when they won by six wickets. Since then they have lost to Australia (twice), and the West Indies, and drawn with South Africa and Pakistan.

In each of the last three Headingley Tests, the captain winning the toss has put the opposition in to bat. This worked for R B Richardson (West Indies) and M A Taylor (Australia), who won the matches, but when M A Atherton did the same in 1996 (against Pakistan) England managed only a draw. Putting the opposition in to bat at this venue has resulted in four wins, three losses and four draws for the captains concerned.

For these teams, in Tests at Headingley, the highest scores are England 505 and South Africa 538, both in 1951. The lowest are 76 and 75 respectively, both in 1907.

The highest individual scores for the teams are P B H May 138 and E A B Rowan 236, both in 1951. The best match bowling figures are: C Blythe (England) 15 for 99 in 1907 and G A Falkner (South Africa) nine for 75, also in 1907.