'Sometimes you have to accept your misfortune' - Butcher

Mark Butcher believes that the resumption of his Test career may be out of his hands, as he attempts to battle back from the wrist injury that kept him out of the 196-run defeat against South Africa at Newlands last week.

Butcher, who has been wearing a cast over his sprained wrist, has received two cortisone injections and hopes to be fit to take part in Monday's nets practice at the Wanderers. But even so, he may be unable to dislodge his replacement, Robert Key, who made a decent 41 in the second innings at Newlands in his first first-class appearance since September.

Key had been Butcher's stand-in throughout the 4-0 home series victory over West Indies, after he succumbed to a succession of untimely injuries, including whiplash from a car crash and a thigh injury while moving boxes at his new home in South London. And though Butcher resumed his No. 3 position at the start of the South Africa tour, he has been unable to make a concrete case for his reinstatement for a second time.

His first Test innings of the tour was a gritty 79, but that was followed by three consecutive failures in the second innings at Port Elizabeth and at Durban. "I travelled out here not knowing whether I was going to be in the starting line-up," said Butcher. "So to get that vote of confidence before the first Test was a huge boost, and I was determined not to let anybody down.

"I might get down to the nets on Monday and not be able to bat properly," Butcher conceded, "in which case there is no decision to be made. But I am certainly hoping that Michael [Vaughan] and Duncan [Fletcher] are having to choose between one of us again. Obviously this injury has come at a bad time. I hate sitting out missing Test matches."

For Key, however, the prospect of another opportunity will be seen as just reward for his uncomplaining approach to the tour. He top-scored with 87 in the tour opener against Nicky Oppenheimer's XI, but immediately conceded that his name was not in the frame for the Tests. "It wasn't his decision, but I meant to talk to him at some point," said Butcher. "But the time never seemed to be right. 'What am I going to say? Thanks mate?'

"That's the way it is with teams," he added. "Sometimes you have to accept your misfortune is going to benefit other people, and you cannot begrudge anybody that. My friends were texting me, hoping he would get out for nought and stuff like that! But I like him; he's a good lad. I think he's a good player, and I hope he scores runs as much as I hope any of the other batters score runs."

For England, the next two Tests are going to be a huge test of their mettle. They came within a whisker of going 2-0 up in Durban, only to be pulled back to 1-1 at Cape Town, and Butcher conceded that South Africa's fightback was no flash in the pan. "They are starting to put their side together in the way it probably should have been from the start," he said. "We never estimated they were going to be easy to beat anyway.

"They have guys in their team who average 60 with the bat, and Shaun Pollock averages 22 with the ball - so it was never going to be easy. If we play to the potential we have shown, with all things firing as we would like, we are a better side than they are - but they are at home, they are a decent team and they played well in this last Test. We just can't afford to slip up again."