3 Big Questions Facing England Ahead of South Africa Series

The hype is building around the showdown between South Africa and England, which begins in Durban on Boxing Day. Both sides have lost the series they recently played in, with spin being their undoing.

This is a huge tour for both teams. If Australia beat West Indies 3-0, which is likely to happen, South Africa will need at least a draw to keep their No. 1 ranking. For England, it’s another chance to show they have fully embraced a new style of cricket under Trevor Bayliss.

For both teams, there are still some unanswered questions lingering ahead of the first Test next week. Here are the three big questions England need to answer ahead of the series.

Will England stick with their elected opener for the whole series?

Don’t be surprised if there ends up being a little bit of a merry-go-round at the top of the England order over the course of this series. Alex Hales has been named as the opener in the first Test, but considering the way England have chopped and changed their top order recently, this might not be set in stone.

At the time of writing, England's tour match was well underway. England had lost both their openers (Cook and Alex Hales without either getting into double figures). Hales had a decent run in the limited overs matches against Pakistan, but has never played a Test. Nick Compton is part of the squad and a possibility, but has not played a Test since 2013.

Hales is the more aggressive, contemporary player while Compton is more conservative. The England Brains Trust will have to decide if they want somebody who is the opposite of Cook or someone who can mirror him. England have gone for the maverick approach in the first Test, but the rest remains up in the air.

The opening berth is one that has plagued England in recent months with Cook going through seven different batting partners since England last played South Africa in 2012. Whether or not it will even remain the same for the series, we’ll have to wait and see.

Is it worth giving Jos Buttler a chance?

Jos Buttler has not quite blossomed into the wicketkeeper batsman in Tests England had hoped he'd become. He was dropped in the United Arab Emirates recently after managing just 430 runs at an average of 23.88 in 12 Tests. Jonny Bairstow took over the gloves and Trevor Bayliss has confirmed it will be Bairstow behind the stumps for the Boxing Day Tests.

However, Buttler played some explosive knocks in the limited-overs series against Pakistan and while he’s unlikely to displace Bairstow behind the stumps, might England be tempted to slot him into the team as a batsman only?

The two fitted into the same team during the UAE series, so it might be worth considering Buttler on his batting skills alone, to give him time to ease into Test cricket rather than being dumped with the additional pressure of keeping.

What result will be considered decent?

This is perhaps one of the trickier questions. If England had travelled here while Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis were still around, you’d have to say that even losing to South Africa would not be a terrible result. While South Africa still have some of the best players in the world—AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn—they aren’t quite the powerhouse they were at the start of 2014.

On their home turf, with a fit and firing Steyn, South Africa will certainly be a tough team to beat, but they are not unbeatable. England have to ask themselves just what result they would be satisfied walking away from this tour with. A draw, surely, is the least they should be aiming for.

All information obtained firsthand unless otherwise stated.