A  great start to England’s tour to South Africa saw Craig Kieswetter brought into the spotlight – with Graeme Smith identifying him as a talent SA would aim to tempt back home. Smith undoubtedly started the verbals off on the front foot claiming surprise at Strauss opting out of the 20/20 games suggesting it would not encourage unity. Mischievous it might have been but his namedropping of Kieswetter was both shrewd and topical given the issue in the press of SA-born players turning to Test cricket for England.

For the record, Kieswetter qualifies for England in February 2010 and was drafted into the England Performance Programme for this winter. With Smith’s Somerset connections, it was a well aimed blow but Kieswetter himself was quick to dismiss any SA interest as flattering but pointless as the young keeper-batsman only has eyes for an England place.

As for the SA tour itself, several thumping warmup wins was followed by an 89-all out disaster against SA ‘A’ in a Twenty20 match. If this reverse was a surprise, England managed to stifle the malaise with a nerve-jangling one-run run over South Africa in the first Twenty20 International yesterday. It came thanks to a stunning innings from Morgan whose 85 from 45 balls meant England scored 202-6 off their 20 overs. Typically, Graeme Smith led the charge and his side were up on the rate before a couple of wickets fell and they just slipped behind when the rains came. Duckworth Lewis coming to England’s rescue but a crucial win for the tourists on what is a long tour and for Dubliner Eoin Morgan, signs he is a quality bat in that middle-order area England have been lacking for some time in ODIs and 20/20.