England, South Africa Cricket: Pray For Sunshine at Leeds

England and South Africa will meet at Leeds for the second test, and let’s hope therewill be sunshine on and off the field.

After a terrible performance by the Proteas in the first innings of the first test at Lords, South African captain Greame Smith and his men stood up and made a remarkable comeback by securing a draw with three centuries.

But looking back at that performance, very little can be said about one of the world's most talented cricketer, Jacques Kallis. He has not shown anything that will make the English afraid and it’s about time he does.

With Amla playing his heart out and other young guns waiting in the wings, this tour of England followed by Bangladesh at home and then away to Australia will really show how good a player he is.

Kallis, who had an outstanding season last year, will have to take a strong approach to this game.  Personally, I think he should play the way he knows best, standing for long hours out there and waiting it out.

In recent games, Kallis has tried a more aggressive approach after much criticism with regards to his low strike rate. Over the last few years, his input in the game has been major, and having him as a fifth bowler is a plus for skipper Greame Smith.

But apart from Kallis, there are many other players who will have to up their game if they want to have a fair chance coming out with something from England.

The likes of Dale Steyn and Morne Mokel are two young talented pace bowlers who will have to really play out of their skins, attacking and putting top order batsman under pressure.

If Harris is selected, he will have to be on the spot and make the batsman work for his runs, as former Proteas speedster Alan Donald said in his column, "Harris might not take ten wickets, but he should at least put batsman under pressure and make them work for their runs..."

South Africa definitely has the momentum from the last game.  Players like Smith, McKenzie, Amla, and Prince all pitched in with centuries. Then you have Kallis, de Villiers, and Boucher, who are hungry to get on the scoreboard with significant contributions.

In the bowling department, Harris, Ntini, Steyn, and Morkel all need to improve and regain the desire to win. From a selection point, I think maybe it will be a good idea to replace Harris with Nel, depending on the state of the pitch.

Nevertheless, the Proteas will have to go out there and dominate from day one if they want to win the test match and ultimately the test series.