Arthur turns up heat with Flintoff factor

Bell and Collingwood managed only 77 runs between them in three Tests against New Zealand.

If either fails at Lord's this week while Flintoff continues his comeback from injury by making a big score for Lancashire, then the selectors will be hard pushed to name an unchanged side for a seventh consecutive match when the series moves to Headingley.

"I think it's obvious," said Arthur when asked about which parts of England's team are most susceptible to attack during the First Test.

"At five and six, those two players will be under some pressure going into this series. The 'Freddie' Flintoff factor lingers. He's too good a player not to play.

"He's got to come back for somebody; somebody is going to be unlucky.

"And within the whole pressure cooker of Test cricket there might be one or two little personal contests going on in the England side that will create their own pressures. Those are areas we've looked at. If we can get into five and six when the ball is pretty new it will be good."

But it is not only Bell and Collingwood who could lose out to a fit and firing Flintoff come Friday week in Leeds. "I think there will be one bowler bowling with a cloud over him knowing that Flintoff might be fit for the Second Test," said Arthur. "We most certainly do expect to see him back sooner rather than later. If you've got a class performer like that - a fantastic cricket available to you - it would be silly not to select him."

Especially, reckons Arthur, because England may be missing a spearhead. "I watched the New Zealand series and they lacked an out-and-out quick, like Flintoff or Steve Harmison. Any captain wants that in their set-up.

"I thought the attack was very good, very steady and could do a really good job as a unit. But I did think they might have lacked genuine pace."

Raw pace is something South Africa have in plenty, with Makhaya Ntini, Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn all operating at above 90 mph. And Arthur reckons Morkel will join Steyn at the top of the world rankings within two years.

"There's no doubt in my mind," he said. "That's how excited I am about these two."