Mark Butcher yesterday became the first casualty of England's gruelling winter after pulling out of the Test tour of South Africa due to injury.

Butcher, 32, attempted to prove the sprained left wrist which ruled him out of the 196-run defeat at Newlands last week had healed sufficiently for him to be considered for the fourth match at the Wanderers this Thursday.

However, he lasted only a few minutes of patting back tennis balls in the nets before succumbing to the pain and receiving ice treatment to the troublesome joint.

Warwickshire's Ian Bell, who was named as standby back in September, will now fly out to South Africa today, a few days ahead of his scheduled return with the rest of the one-day specialists.

Bell, who struck 70 on his Test debut against the West Indies and impressed in the one-dayers in Zimbabwe, will effectively act as batting cover for the series finale at Centurion with Robert Key penned in to keep his place at number three in the order.

''It has improved but not enough to wield a bat and hit a ball, which is bowled quite a bit quicker than a few throw-downs with a tennis ball,'' said Butcher, who will see a specialist here before heading home. ''Unfortunately it was not good enough. The more I tried to move it the stiffer it got, the less flexibility and the greater the pain.

''With only two days between now and the next Test match it did not give me enough time to improve significantly, so that was that.

''It is logical for me to go back because I will not have played for three weeks and, with Rob Key playing the last match, it was felt in terms of continuity of selection he should play the last two games in the series with a replacement sent out to cover in case something happened to someone else.''

Butcher actually incurred the problem during a gym session at the start of the tour when he felt his hand go cold during a set of tricep dips: although he thought nothing of it initially, the discomfort grew to a crescendo during the second Test in Durban and he pulled out on the morning of the third match in Cape Town.

Fortune has certainly abandoned the left-handed batsman recently, following 42 consecutive Tests previously for his country.

Butcher's whiplash injury, incurred in a car crash, ruled him out for the opening Test of the 4-0 whitewash of the West Indians last July and he then pulled a muscle lifting a box at home which prevented him returning before the Oval finale.

''It doesn't make a difference what sort of injury it is, it could be an ingrowing toenail, it is always frustrating to miss Test matches,'' Butcher added. ''The last six months have been pretty bad for me.

''I was despondent about things last summer but this comes as a worse blow. With all my injury problems of last summer over, I had been very, very good fitness-wise so this is galling at the moment.''

Doubly so given the number of players queuing up for spots in the top order: as well as Key and Bell, Paul Collingwood has ambitions to shake off his one-day specialist tag and Kevin Pietersen's talent has already made a big impression.