The guessing game starts

before the arrival of both South Africa and Australia A.
Now the speculation and guessing begins.
Will Brendan Taylor open the batting like he has been doing in the ODIs and T20 matches?
Or will he slide down to number three as he often does when playing for his franchise? Surely you don’t wasn’t to change a working formula after the success Taylor has had at the top of the order when representing the national side.
The middle and lower order will be more than interesting with the likes of Craig Ervine, Regis Chakabva Charles Coventry and Chamu Chibhabha all slugging it out for positions.
Though you would think that Chibhabha should be in the top four, as he more often than not finds himself getting out leg before wicket to the spinners, so getting him in as early as possible and getting him used to the wicket may be the answer.
He is a very talented player while the explosive but unreliable Charles Coventry will more than likely find himself in the Tri-series which could then possibly or probably make room for Vuzi Sibanda to find himself a slot. Either way these are very exciting times that await us and the thought of having quality sides visiting our country and showing their skills to a nation, which is desperate to learn and understand more about the longer version of the game, can only lead to better prospects.
It is also good to see that two young players who have been consistent at franchise level have also been drafted in and may very possibly be rewarded for their hard work.
These two players are Sikanda Raza Butt and promising young left arm swing bowler Brian Vitori, both from the Southern Rocks franchise, though once again you may find Raza Butt playing in the Tri-Series at the top of the order where his aggressive stroke play may come in handy.
He does show a preference to deliveries pitched up to him and tends to be less productive when facing anything short of a length.
Meanwhile, England pulled something special out of the bag as the first Test match appeared to be petering out into a tame and uneventful draw.
Sri Lanka once again found themselves in a position which has always hampered their progress in Test cricket as the conditions got the better of their batsmen.
The truth of the matter is that they are up against a formidable Test side with a top five that has the ability to grind their opposition into the ground. The only weakness in an otherwise good side is Kevin Pietersen who continues to show a huge amount of difficulties in reading and playing the left arm spinners.
Alistair Cooke, Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell have been run machines of late and against an enthusiastic but in experienced attack, England shouldn’t be tested too much. But the weather more often than not plays a huge part in England.
l Dean du Plessis, a cricket commentator, writes exclusively for The Saturday Herald, the newspaper with the biggest sports coverage in the country. He can be contacted at [email protected]