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However, on the eve of the first Test on Tuesday, both Strauss and Proteas captain Graeme Smith said the original nationality of the four players was irrelevant.
Asked whether South Africa pay special attention to the four South African-born players, Smith responded, "Are they South African or are they English?"
"They're all playing for England," he was told. "Well then we'll treat them like England players," Smith retorted. "We won't differentiate."
Strauss, who left South Africa as a small boy, said it was not an issue.
"What we have is the 15 best players in England in our side," he said. "Where they were born does not matter."
However, both suggested that the most controversial of the four players, Pietersen, who will be playing his first Test in South Africa, might have some problems of his own. "KP is coming off an injury and has to find his feet again," said Strauss.
"I'm very happy with the way he is going about things. He wants to have a massive impact on the series and that is what we want too."
"We'd like to put a lot of pressure on him," said Smith. "We'd like to put all England batsmen under pressure and he's a key figure in that line-up. So we've worked out some interesting game plans for him.
"I think since his injury he's searching for a bit of confidence and hopefully we can keep him under the pressure that we've had him under during the ODIs and the tour as a whole.
"With regard to off-the-field stuff, that's out of our control. We're just going to focus on playing England man for man and hopefully be better than them. But off the field, I guess Kevin's carrying the burden of comments he's made over a period of time."
