But given his pre-match insistence that England needed to "hit the ground running" in order to build confidence for the South Africa clash, Saturday's lacklustre display was hardly what he had in mind.
However, Henin sustained an injury to her left leg and later confirmed on her Web site that she will miss next week's Sydney Invitational, where she faced a possible second-round clash with Serena Williams, in order to recover in time for the decade's first Grand Slam event, the Australian Open.