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Duncan fletcher, who begins his two-year term as England coach on Oct 1, has selected his first team on a principle outlined by an American minstrel. ``I'm living in a foreign country,'' Bob Dylan used to sing, ``but I'm bound to cross the line. Beauty walks a razor's edge, someday I'll make it mine.''

It may not be profound but, for this newcomer, it is apt. Fletcher is a foreigner, with an outsider's detachment, and he lacks neither motive nor opportunity. As for beauty, we shall have to wait and see. Roses do not bloom freely among the concrete and tyres of English cricket. One wishes the man from Zimbabwe well; one suspects he will struggle to make it to the other side, as David Lloyd did before him.

Contrary to what some people may think, he inherits the job at a good time. England are considered the worst team in the world and the public mood is for change, at almost any price. That should work to Fletcher's advantage because improvement, however slight, will be easily gauged. He promises blood and sweat, though no tears as yet, and he seems to have a comrade in Nasser Hussain.

Will it work, though? Will the 17-man party announced yesterday help restore confidence within the team, and in the team? They will not win the five-Test series this winter because South Africa are a strong, united side keen to make up for their disappointment in England last summer when they played well and lost 2-1. What they must do is take that first decisive step towards regaining international respect.

Fletcher and Hussain can award themselves high marks on four counts. They have recalled the Lancashire all-rounder Andrew Flintoff and picked three players without Test experience: Michael Vaughan and Gavin Hamilton, of Yorkshire, and Graeme Swann, of Northamptonshire. They get half a mark for choosing Chris Adams, the Sussex captain, who is earmarked to bat at No 3 or No 4 in the Test team.

They would like to award themselves another high mark for sticking with Alec Stewart, who will keep wicket and bat at No 5 or No 6. They see Stewart as being good for another year, at least, of Test cricket. Accordingly, they will stand or fall by their judgment, which, to other eyes, appears flawed.

One day, however distant it now seems, when monsters emerge from the Rhine and overrun continental Europe, when China and Africa collide, even - I know, this is stretching things - when Alan Hansen acquires some humility, Stewart will still be pulling on his pads. His latest inclusion, ahead of Mark Ramprakash, is not scandalous. It is, in fact, quite predictable, but it is depressing all the same.

When Hussain declared he was unafraid of making the changes necessary, and when Lord MacLaurin spoke of prominent casualties (in the plural), they were having everybody on. The only casualty is Ramprakash, a careworn soul, but a batsman who has not disgraced himself in the last 18 months.

He is not alone in his bafflement. This season, Aftab Habib was called in from county cricket, and dropped. Mark Butcher was promoted to captain and, one game later, dropped. Ed Giddins was selected, and dropped. Stewart, short of form, has survived and now goes to South Africa with his reputation enhanced, as the first-choice gloveman, a responsibility that was taken away from him earlier this year.

The implication is obvious: Hussain cannot bring himself to confront what needs to be done and should have been done the moment Stewart was deposed as captain. To make a fresh start, he had to make this single symbolic act, to turn the page. He ducked it then and now, with Fletcher holding his hand, he has ducked it again.

David Graveney, the chairman of selectors, said that ``after an extensive investigation of all options'', they had gone for cricketers who could contribute with bat and ball, and respond to the abrasive cricket they can expect to meet with fire of their own. Hence the selection of Adams, who, at 29, is not in the first flush of youth but who has won good notices for his leadership of Sussex.

The selectors were obliged to offer Darren Maddy an extended opportunity (though they denied it to Giddins) and they will expect Vaughan to justify their decision with performances worthy of his background. The former captain of the A team has long been regarded as a cricketer for the future and that future has now arrived.

As Flintoff and Hamilton, who can bowl, are really all-rounders, the bulk of the quick bowling will be done by five men, three of whom must prove their fitness before the party leave. Darren Gough, the most important of the three, claims to have overcome the calf injury that has kept him out of the side since the World Cup, but we have heard all this before. Until he bowls his first ball in the first Test at the Wanderers ground in the last week of November, neither he nor anybody else can rest easy.

Dean Headley, who has been troubled by a dodgy shoulder, should be fit. Alex Tudor, on the other hand, is a major worry. Plagued by knee trouble, which restricted his appearance this summer to a single Test, in which he bowled indifferently but made 99 not out, he must be rated doubtful for the tour. He has an appalling fitness record for a 21-year-old and it will be no surprise if England have to summon a replacement before the plane leaves.

In view of the permanent fitness worries surrounding Gough and Tudor, it beggared belief to hear Graveney draw attention to Giddins, who, apparently, ``has some work to do on his overall fitness''. He must wonder what sort of upside-down world he has been drawn into, and whether every player is treated in an evenhanded way.

Although Phil Tufnell eventually won the spinner's vote, he will probably not play a significant part on a tour that will reacquaint England with Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock on some lively pitches. Which brings us back to the opening song, Shelter from the Storm. By January, Fletcher may not be the only soul seeking respite.