SOCIAL occasions were always a poor preparation for coming battles, but at least the Duchess of Richmond's ball featured the leading English characters who were shortly to fight at Waterloo.

The relevance of England's friendly with South Africa at Old Trafford on Saturday, won 2-1 by a goal from Ian Wright which should have been disallowed for handling, to their World Cup qualifier in Poland this weekend was more tenuous. Indeed the spirit of Wellington was confined solely to the boot which Linda Buthelezi put into Paul Gascoigne in the 94th minute - a rare case of time literally being added on for injuries.

Gascoigne's right calf is sufficiently bruised to raise further doubts about his fitness to appear in Chorzow, his fitful performance having already questioned the wisdom of considering him for the game in the first place.

Glenn Hoddle had already lost Jamie Redknapp with the broken ankle the Liverpool midfielder suffered early in the second half in a tackle with Phil Masinga. After Saturday's game the England coach said he had been considering experimenting with Redknapp as a sweeper in the four nation tournament in France which begins a week tomorrow. From now on Hoddle will be lucky if Roy Evans, the Liverpool manager lets him have a feather duster.

In the meantime England are in for yet another week of anxiety concerning the wellbeing of Gascoigne, who, if he celebrates his 30th birthday tomorrow from a prone position, at least it will be on the treatment table. Hoddle described the tackle which rudely interrupted the player's return to full match fitness as diabolical" and "something we don't like to see in football." Yet, in a sense, Buthelezi did both player and coach a favour.

For had Gascoigne not been injured, the argument about whether Hoddle should play him in Poland, where avoiding defeat will be England's prime objective, would now be raging anew. Hoddle thought Gascoigne's performance against South Africa was "spot on". It was cot an opinion shared by all.

He took a pass, did very positive things and created things in the last third of the pitch," the England coach enthused. "He needed the 90 minutes to have any chance of playing against Poland. He did not need a spectacular performance, but he still played well."

In the eyes of others, however, Gascoigne's contribution was extremely limited.

True, he beat a couple of defenders in the old manner after only two minutes. He also went close with one free kick of typical audacity before setting up England's winning goal with another. But, in general, he lay too deep to be anything like the consistent influence of old and did not move further forward even after David Batty had come on for Redknapp.

When this point was raised, Hoddle replied that "Gazza's not someone who's going to get in behind defences off the ball. He's never been a player that's gone in behind people and tried to make runs off the ball. Maybe so, but the old Gascoigne usually wanted the ball back once he had made an initial pass and was prepared to make runs into space to get it.

There was little evidence of that at Old Trafford and, if Gascoigne no longer has the stamina to do this, then his present value to the side must remain questionable. Hoddle could bite the bullet in Chorzow and move David Beckham to the middle, retaining Phil Neville as right wingback. Neville's performance on his home ground was encouraging but, in Gascoigne's absence, the England coach would be more likely to retain Robert Lee in the centre as the main support for Teddy Sheringham and Alan Shearer.

Hoddle's wisest decision on Saturday was to keep his principle means of scoring goals and stopping them, Shearer and David Seaman, out of the firing line. With eight changes in the side that had beaten Georgia three and a half weeks earlier, this was an England team of spare parts.

South Africa, the 1996 African Nations Cup winners and likely qualifiers for France next summer, were full of clever touches and in Mark Fish had a hero of genuine international quality. But for all Doctor Khumalo's imaginative nostrums they lacked the attacking thrust which had brought Cameroon and Nigeria to the fore at World Cup level.

In spite of Fish, moreover, they defended poorly at times. Neville was allowed easy possession before passing to Lee, who shot through a ruck of bodies to put England ahead after 20 minutes.

The equaliser came in the 43rd minute when Nigel Martyn, hesitating as John Moshoeu came in, failed to gather Khumalo's ball from the right. Moshoeu promptly hooked it over the defence for Masinga to nod into an empty net.

Paul Scholes, Hoddle's fifth new cap, replaced Sheringham and, with 15 minutes remaining, flicked on Gascoigne's flee kick for Wright to control the ball, turn, and shoot past Andre Arendse in virtually the same movement. But the Arsenal striker had clearly guided the ball down with a forearm.

Hoddle rejected the assertion by Clive Barker, South Africa's coach, that England had been "predictable" and their build up "laboured".