Allan Donald, the new bowling coach of South Africa firmly believes that they are well placed to displace England at the top of the pecking order in the ICC Test rankings. South Africa are due to tour England next summer and Donald is of the opinion that they are good enough to beat England. "The series in England is going to be a huge one for us," Donald said. "We always weigh ourselves against England and Australia and next year's series is going to have more on it with England going No. 1 in the rankings.
England are the newly crowned world No. 1 Test side after displacing India by an emphatic margin in the ongoing Test series at home. England have a chance to whitewash India 4-0 if they win the final Test at Oval, a result that will see India fall further to No. 3 below South Africa.
South Africa are currently having a break and will start their season with Test series at home against Australia and Sri Lanka. They can become the new Number 1 team if they manage to beat Australia 2-0 and Sri Lanka 3-0.
"Having got to number one in the world England's next challenge is to stay there but it also means that they are there to be toppled," Donald said. "For other sides it means that when you get a sniff of beating England you have to grasp it. Neither side will hold back or take a backward step so it promises to be a fantastic series. England at home will have a lot to prove and we have a fantastic record in England."
Donald credited the pace bowling attack of England as the reason for them becoming the top team in the world.
"They have such a well-balanced attack. [Stuart] Broad, [James] Anderson, [Tim] Bresnan and [Chris] Tremlett - these guys are making a serious impact. But England also have depth to their resources. Steven Finn can't get in the side at the moment and Graham Onions hasn't played yet.
"When you've got bowlers like that with Test experience in your second- string attack, it's not such a big step up for them to make if they are called up to replace the first-choice players."
Donald's first task will be to get his bowlers in shape ahead of the touring Australians and he expects the leading strike bowler, Dale Steyn to be firing on all cylinders. "Our next series is against Australia in October so this break ought to benefit us and it really could not have come at a better time. Dale's elbow injury is also coming along well and he will start to bowl this week. So come October, he should be fully fit again."
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