The bookies have South Africa as the short-priced favourites.

The experts believe England have the edge having won two of the three meetings between the teams ahead of the Lord's final.

And whoever wins, Mike Gatting, Allan Donald and Henry Olonga - representatives from all three teams in the triangular tournament - are expecting a match fit for the occasion.

Mike Gatting

As ever at Lord's it will be a decent wicket, a fast outfield and a lovely sunny day - perfect for a good game of cricket, which is what I expect to see.

Herschelle Gibbs has only got one big score in six visits to the crease

It's all about the batting for me, with the bowling attacks being much of a muchness.

For South Africa a lot will revolve around the likes of Jacques Kallis, Jacques Rudolph and Herschelle Gibbs - who is due a big score.

But then so is Marcus Trescothick at the top of an England order that features a back in order Michael Vaughan, Andrew Flintoff and Rikki Clarke, who showed promise at Edgbaston.

It was very important that England won that dress rehearsal and they have the edge going into the final having won two of the three games so far.

England will go into the match in the better frame of mind and should just edge a batting showdown.

Allan Donald

The two teams have played good cricket so far to get to this stage and now one huge performance from anybody can win it.

England will start as favourites, but South Africa will think otherwise and they are probably quite happy to be perceived as underdogs.

If England can keep their nerve they should win Jonathan Agnew

There have been times when they haven't played well in finals and they have been tagged as chokers.

Under a new captain this is the perfect time to prove that they can perform on the big stage and they have plenty of experience that can help in such situations.

Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis have been playing well and Herschelle Gibbs, who has been hitting the ball well in the nets but not in the middle, is due a score.

Players can get tight in a final and that could be telling, but whether you have the experience or not, it will be all about playing smart cricket.

Henry Olonga

As an impartial viewer, with Zimbabwe on the way home, it's a tough one to predict with both teams playing really well.

Flintoff hit a 50 against South Africa in the last match between the sides

On paper you'd have to say England will have an edge having won two out of three.

A lot will depend on whether the South African attack can take early wickets, something they haven't been able to do against England yet.

They seem to lack penetration, and Marcus Trescothick or Andrew Flintoff - who is bang in form with bat and ball - could take full advantage of that.

What's not in doubt is that it has all the ingredients of being a great game.

I imagine it will be another good Lord's batting wicket and, if it can match last year's final between India and England when almost 650 runs were scored, it should be a humdinger.