Impact of pacers and Ollie Pope's rise big positives for England but questions remain on keeper

South Africa might have to endure more pain before things turn around for them

Mark Wood and Ollie Pope had a great Test series against South Africa. Reuters

For once, it was not all about Ben Stokes. England won just their second away Test series in four years, when victory in the fourth match in Johannesburg on Monday completed a 3-1 drubbing of South Africa.

Okay, so Stokes was named player of the series for some typical heroism with bat, ball and in the field. But England will be buoyed by the contributions made by some of the other guys, as they look ahead to Tests that follow this year.

Raw pace

Kevin Pietersen might prefer to face Mark Wood than Jofra Archer “all day long”, as he wrote on social media midway through the series. But there can’t be many batting line ups that would choose to face both of them.

Read More

• Winners and losers from South Africa v England Test series

• Root says 'the sky's the limit' for his England side after series win

• South Africa v England: who topped the batting and bowling averages for the series?