Proteas eye good times for England

South Africa are backing England to continue their progress as a one-day side over in India later this year - providing they maintain the same self-belief that powered them to an emphatic victory in the NatWest Series.

Coach Mickey Arthur has been stunned at the level of performance delivered by England during the 4-0 series triumph against a South Africa side who began the five-match series having won their previous nine one-day internationals.

Outplayed in all three disciplines during the last few weeks, the tourists will fly back home aiming to regroup and rethink their one-day strategy in the aftermath of their mauling.

But Arthur has no doubt what the future holds for England, who he is backing to succeed in India when they compete in a gruelling seven-match one-day series spanning 19 days, all in different venues.

"I think they'll do well (in India), providing they play with the same belief they have done against us," said Arthur. "We found that being aggressive was the way to tackle India.

Stuart Broad's threat with the ball has been one of the highlights of England's NatWest Series victory

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"They have the ability. It's just having the belief to do it again outside your own country in foreign conditions, but they seem to be experienced enough to be able to handle that."

The tourists' one-day hammering - which was achieved with captain Graeme Smith missing for the last three matches, while both Morkel brothers struggled with injuries - has taken the gloss off their historic Test series win earlier this summer.

Smith's side became the first South Africa team to claim a Test series triumph on English soil since 1965, but with the next World Cup three years away, Arthur knows they must tackle their one-day demise sooner rather than later.

"One thing I might criticise myself for is that on this tour we put such a high demand on winning the Test series," he conceded.

"Then, once we did that, we thought 'we've achieved our goal now' and that's probably one thing I've learned from this tour."

The futures of players like Makhaya Ntini, Jacques Kallis and Herschelle Gibbs are all likely to come under discussion as South Africa look to rebuild looking ahead to the next World Cup.

But before then Arthur will begin planning for one-day series against Kenya and Bangladesh next month.

"We've got five one-dayers coming up at the end of October and start of November against Kenya and Bangladesh - and they will give us a good base to start from," he added.