The point is does he, or Mark Butcher for that matter if we assume they are the first choices, know where he stands? Can anyone play one-off matches and deal with the intensity of the Test match thing, let alone get the feel of the job or an understanding with a partner? Presumably the position belongs to Butcher. He was chosen first for Edgbaston and did well, albeit against bowlers who did not, and there is no reason not to pick him again if he is fit. Which means another chop and a change.

All of which, of course, is to the advantage of the South Africans. There is nothing better than playing against an unsettled team, especially if you have done the unsettling yourself. In the first innings here at Old Trafford Knight was cross with himself for being found out by Donald's short ball. It is a humiliation to be done by the short stuff, and by a mate too, and it leads to people tut-tutting.

Knight's problem was that on what is essentially a slow pitch, he had planned to stand up and confront the shortish ball and to sway away from the genuine bouncer. But he was surprised at the variation of pace in the pitch, so he was suddenly in two minds and then it was too late.

For the second innings he decided to duck as low as he could, come what may. He also decided to leave anything that Donald bowled across him since he didn't think it likely that the ball would come back in to him on a pitch offering so little seam movement. After one or two safe ducks and a well judged leave-alone, Donald surprised him by coming around the wicket and infuriatingly Knight was suckered into playing a stroke at the change of angle. He nicked it. His plan, his innings and his match was history. It was Donald's best moment of a day on which he bowled sometimes too wide and sometimes too short, unusual mistakes to be made by any of this fascinating collection of quick bowlers.

They are so physically strong and play with such an uncomplicated mentality that they are harder to resist than more temperamental types. They are ideal soldiers for an uncompromising general such as Hansie Cronje and reflect a nation driven by the male ethic of beer and sport. It is a wholehearted world which does not suffer the weak-willed or the excuse maker and it sets standards which you achieve or you don't get asked to play ball. This environment is perfect for the development of young sportsmen and it shone in the bowling of Makhaya Ntini.

Ntini is said to have a bit of his idol, Malcolm Marshall, about him, but there is a lot of Lance Klusener, too, in the powerful use of the upper body, the front-on action and the wide jump at the crease. Both men hurl ball and body at the batsmen following through with a full rotation of the arms and a resonant, perspiring expression of effort. And both men seem set on trying to bowl as fast as Donald, their pack leader. This can overwhelm the faint-hearted or the insecure and it comes on top of Donald himself and of Shaun Pollock, who when fit, is now the finest bowler of his type in the world.

Because of the strength of the back-up, of the unit as a whole, it is doubly imperative to stand fast against South Africa's new ball, so England must decide upon their best technicians and their strongest characters to be with Atherton at the top of the order if they are to live with opponents such as these.