Graphic: Target man - how to solve a problem like Smith

Kevin Pietersen has made an excellent start as England captain. Early impressions are so important and difficult to shake off and yesterday the impression given was that of a man firmly in charge of his own destiny. Quite right, too, since the Ws and Ls go against the captain's name, not the coach's. This is Pietersen's team.

He was in full flow yesterday, just about at the heart of everything that was going on, and striding about the Brit Oval with a proprietorial air: not only batting and bowling, but telling the fielding coach where to put his cones and feeding the bowling machine as well. He probably drove the team coach back to the hotel, too.

In time he will learn the art of delegation, but there is no better moment than your first match to put your own stamp on proceedings. He talked a positive game during his first press conference at Lord's and here he backed up his rhetoric with actions, for his first moves have been bold. For every choice - four bowlers or five, Andrew Flintoff to bat six or seven - he has taken the positive option.

This team, with Flintoff back at No6 and Stephen Harmison restored to spearhead the attack, has a good look and feel about it. Harmison's return to the squad at Edgbaston was criticised in these quarters and I make no apology for repeating that his commitment and attitude over the past two years as a centrally contracted player have been unacceptably poor.

Those who think that his problems have stemmed from a simple technical glitch are as wide of the mark as his opening salvo in the Ashes series two winters ago. Technical problems creep in when a cricketer's game is not given due care and attention and this has been the case with Harmison.

But chastened by his demotion, and having realised that international cricket is not such a bad gig after all, he has been bowling impressively and at good speed for Durham this year. There is no doubt that an in-form and on-song Harmison is an asset to England, something the new captain was keen to emphasise yesterday.

Harmison could not have hoped for a better place to return than the Oval, a ground that occupies a fond place in fast bowlers' hearts. The Oval has always suited his pace and steep bounce: in four matches he has taken 18 wickets here at 24.38, with a six-for against West Indies and two other four-wicket hauls. This pitch does not feel as hard as some others, but there is a little more grass than usual, which should help the ball to carry through.

What will happen in the winter, though, with Harmison? Given that he is no longer involved in the one-day team, how will England avoid a repeat of what happened in Australia and New Zealand when he turned up on tour short of fitness and form? One three-day game in Baroda is hardly sufficient preparation for the first Test against India in Ahmedabad this winter.

That is a potential furrow on the new captain's brow, but for now he needs a short-term tonic and with Flintoff and Harmison at his side, he has more firepower in his first match than Michael Vaughan had enjoyed all summer.

There is only one problem and that is Graeme Smith, Pietersen's counterpart, a man who has the blood of two England captains on his hands and a man who would dearly love to be a pooper at Pietersen's party. “He won't experience too much of the pressures right now,” Smith said of Pietersen. “That will come in a few months' time, then he will really understand what it's all about.

“For us, the best way to keep him under pressure is to beat England. Like we did to Michael [Vaughan]. We kept him on the back foot and we know that pressure can grow very quickly.” Oh, come on Smithy; don't be such a killjoy.

England: K P Pietersen (Hampshire, captain), A J Strauss (Middlesex), A N Cook (Essex), I R Bell (Warwickshire), P D Collingwood (Durham), A Flintoff (Lancashire), T R Ambrose (Warwickshire), S C J Broad (Nottinghamshire), J M Anderson (Lancashire), S J Harmison (Durham), M S Panesar (Northamptonshire).

South Africa: G C Smith (captain), N D McKenzie, H M Amla, J H Kallis, A G Prince, A B de Villiers, M V Boucher, M Morkel, P L Harris, A Nel, M Ntini.

Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and S J Davis (Australia).

Third umpire: P J Hartley.

Match referee: R S Madugalle (Sri Lanka).

Television: Live coverage on Sky Sports 1 from 10.30am (Test starts at 11am). Highlights on Five from 7.15pm-8pm and Sky Sports 2 from 8pm-10pm.

Weather: 23C (73F); Bright and dry morning with showers, some heavy, expected in the afternoon.