Weakest English link so far? No question: Harmison. I don't suggest they should drop him, or that they will.. but there's only one player who has looked totally rank in every spell and who couldn't be entrusted with a role and he's that man. His figures are poor enough.. but all seem agreed that even those flatter. More like the new Dev Malcolm or periodically AWOL Andy Caddick than the new Curtley Ambrose.

Giles did just as badly with the ball as Harmison in that last innings... but in truth he should probably not have been bowling at all. Bowling wise... no such excuse for Flintoff though (very patchy in both matches to date with the ball, far too much short stuff, serious lack of control over line). At least there have been SOME good signs from Jones (again patchy, but at least SOME decent stuff: that's an improvement).

Bowling wise.. if England had a really brutal coach.. only Hoggard would be sleeping easy right now.

Batting wise... there's only Strauss currently looking to have both form AND class.. and even he's managing soft dismissals. Tresco's looking ordinary, Bucher's batting from memory but scraping by. Vaughan's looking OK but getting no returns whatsoever. Thorpe's been batting from memory and has only just started showing signs of form. Flintoff's been looking, once again, like the old familiar no 7-8 bat. Good job Jones is in good nick... shame about the glovework.

The positive for England is that if they are looking in dire shape.. SA are looking stacks worse. Batting wise... even Kallis is not convincing entirely (certainly early on)... and the best of the rest is just promise: Rudolph's struggling to convert, De Villiers is still finding his feet. They look in need of a sudden re-emergence of Smith and Gibbs and of Dippenaur coming back and of batting NZ style... right down to 9. Bowling wise.. it's still, pretty much, the same old one-man show. If Langveldt does come in for Steyn that would surely help... but if Pollock's carrying an injury the signs are even worse.

Not sure who's the happier coach right now. The South African camp is finding lots of small bits of encouragement that the future is going to be less bleak than widely foretold. The Enland camp is doing just fine on results and can rejoice that this is being achieved whilst playing badly and without key players actually delivering (Vaughan), turning up (Harmison) or reaching potential (Flintoff)... but must be losing much of the confidence that they had been building up as the signs of vulnerability grow.