The squad included the 11 players who played in the first Test at Centurion plus batsman Alviro Petersen, all-rounder Ryan McLaren and fast bowler Dale Steyn. Dropped from the original 15-man squad for the first Test was left-arm fast bowler Wayne Parnell. Steyn was due to play at Centurion but was withdrawn from the side because of a tight hamstring on the morning of the match.

The squad: Graeme Smith (capt), Hashim Amla, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, Friedel de Wet, JP Duminy, Paul Harris, Jacques Kallis, Ryan McLaren, Morne Morkel, Makhaya Ntini, Alviro Petersen, Ashwell Prince, Dale Steyn.

Team News:

South Africa: The hosts have put their campaign back on track with a clinical demolition of New Zealand after the stutter against Sri Lanka. Their match against the Lankans could be considered an anomaly simply because they were coming off a long lay-off against a quality team that was match-fit. But knowing the professionalism of the Proteas, it would have taken them just a match or two to get back into the groove, and now with a good win under their belts they are back to being the tournament favourites. Their batting has many stars capable of making a vital difference to the match, and none brighter than AB de Villiers, who continues to have an outstanding year in all formats of the game. And to complement him there is a phalanx of reliability and flair in the form of Graeme Smith, JP Duminy, Jacques Kallis and the expected-to-be-fit-again Herschelle Gibbs. The bowling did the job against New Zealand, and Wayne Parnell repayed the faith reposed in him by picking up a fifer. He might have been expensive, but picking up those wickets helped the overall cause of the team. England have also done South Africa a favour by beating Sri Lanka, because this will ensure that the hosts don’t approach this match with any complacency, as they otherwise might have done even subconsciously.

England: England will be high on confidence after upstaging Sri Lanka, but even taking into account the morale-boost that win would have provided, England have their task cut-out while taking on the hosts. They can take heart from the fact that in their last two matches, they have beaten two of the top 4 ODI teams in Australia and Sri Lanka. In the match against Sri Lanka in particular, they seemed to have at last fulfilled captain Strauss’ oft-quoted utterance, that when they get their act together, they can outplay any team. Their bowling clicked, with Anderson being outstanding. However, it remains to be seen whether the bowling can perform to the same level in less bowler-friendly conditions. Throughout the Ashes too, the England attack showed that in helpful conditions they are world class, but when the going is a little tougher they are pedestrian. Centurion will not be as helpful to them as the Wanderers was. In fact, England might want to consider giving the promising Adil Rashid a game to partner Graeme Swann in the spin department. If they bowl second, the two could be quite a handful. The batsmen would have derived enormous satisfaction at the good showing put up for several reasons – they did it without any contribution worth the name from their mainstay Strauss, they did it against a quality bowling attack, and they did it in conditions that were not ideal for batting. If the batsmen can carry on the good work, England will be very dangerous contenders indeed.

Trivia:

Paul Collingwood can lay strong claim to being England’s greatest ever One-Day cricketer. He is fourth on the list of the highest ever run-getters for England with 4129 runs, just 171 runs adrift of third placed Graham Gooch and 548 runs behind the leader Alec Stewart. To top that, he is sixth in the list for the highest wicket-takers for England with 96 wickets. And he leads the charts in catches taken with 97 catches.

Soundbytes:

“I didn’t see it because I was watching the ball at the time. I then had a chance to look at the replay and the umpires said ‘Well, it’s up to you if you want to call him back’.” – Andrew Strauss on his decision to recall Sri Lankan batsman Angelo Mathews after he was run-out because he collided with bowler Graham Onions.

“I wish to thank my team-mates for taking the catches. I was nervous against Sri Lanka and felt a lot more comfortable in the second match.” – Wayne Parnell on his five-wicket haul against New Zealand.

Teams:

England (From): Andrew Strauss(c), Joe Denly, Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Matthew Prior(w), Luke Wright, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Graham Onions, James Anderson, Ravinder Bopara, Ryan Sidebottom, Adil Rashid, Tim Bresnan

South Africa (From): Graeme Smith(c), Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Jean-Paul Duminy, Mark Boucher(w), Albie Morkel, Roelof van der Merwe, Johan Botha, Wayne Parnell, Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini, Hashim Amla, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Robin Peterson