Graeme Smith.Age 22. Teams: Western Province and South Africa. Smith captains the South African team to tour England.

It is time for South African cricket to rise up like a phoenix from the ashes after the World Cup debacle and Smith has been chosen to lead the brave new world.

Opening the batting with the brilliant Herschelle Gibbs should stand him in good stead if the pitches in England, after a bone dry spring, are half as good as last year's.

But as well as rattling up runs, Smith, the fourth-youngest captain in Test history, must also instil a new self-belief in his fellow players.

He must get Shaun Pollock to bowl even more brilliantly despite his demotion to foot-soldier and inspire the likes of Boeta Dippenaar to achieve his full potential.

James Anderson. Age 20. Teams: Lancashire and England. Anderson was a revelation with the new ball in the winter.

This bashful lad from Burnley was really cast into the Lions' den when injuries forced his early introduction into the England team in the VB one-day series in Australia.

Promising performances there were converted into match-winning ones in the World Cup though Nasser Hussain constantly pleads with the English media not to get too over-excited by Anderson.

Moving the ball away from the right-handers at pace should mean he is a real handful for the Zimbabweans.

And all being well, his confidence will be rising nicely by the time he faces the sterner test of South Africa.

Jim Troughton.Age 24. Teams: Warwickshire and ECB Academy. Expansive left-hander with bags of talent.

England's injury-prone batsmen will be looking over their shoulders at the rise and rise of this grandson of famous actor Patrick Troughton.

A brilliant season for Warwickshire, including a match-winning innings in the Benson & Hedges Cup Final, was preceded by some more telling contributions for the Academy.

Troughton currently boasts a first-class batting average of 46.60 and in one-day cricket his record is only slightly less brilliant.

Whether his England debut will come in Test or one-day cricket remains to be seen, but an ability to bowl some slow left-arm stuff will see him in good stead.

Bilal Shafayat. Age 18. Team: Nottinghamshire. Captain of England Under-19s.

Shafayat enhanced his considerable reputation by scoring a century against Australia Under-19 in January and leading his side to a Test victory.

That followed his match-winning performance against India's U19 side at Northampton last summer when he made 118 and 201.

He made his first-class debut in 2001, scoring 75 against Middlesex and finishing the season with 231 runs at an average of 38.5.

He is a decent medium-pacer, also, and will be a pivotal member of Nottinghamshire's first XI this season.

Rikki Clarke. Age 21. Teams: Surrey, England and ECB Academy. All-rounder who hit two first-class centuries and six fifties in debut season.

Clarke flew out to Colombo last September with the full England one-day squad - a remarkable rise to fame in a season of so many high points.

In winter matches playing for the Academy against Sri Lanka, he began to show his maturity.

In the drawn second "Test" against in Colombo, he ground out an important 52 from 125 balls, followed by a free-scoring 47 not out from 32 balls in the first one-dayer.

He is realistic the good work must continue, revealing in a BBC Sport interview "to follow a successful first season is one of the hardest things to do."

Isa Guha. Age 17. Teams: Berkshire and England women. Young fast bowler with enormous talent, family originally from India.

In the early stages of an international career that has already been interrupted by exams, Guha has shown remarkable potential.

So far she has played in seven one-day internationals, in which she has picked up 15 wickets with an average of just 7.53 and an economy rate of just 2.23.

Late last year, Guha was stunned to receive the BBC Asian Sports Personality of the Year Award.