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SA and Eng play mind games

Johannesburg - The mind games continued to heat up between South Africa and England on the eve of a five-match one-day international series starting at the Wanderers on Friday evening.

While England skipper Andrew Strauss said he refused to be drawn into a war of words with the hosts, his reluctance to reveal which specialist spin bowler they would play brought a smile to the face of South African coach Mickey Arthur.

Graeme Swann was withdrawn from the first two games of the series with a side strain and, while England already had leg-spinner Adil Rashid at their disposal, off-spinner James Tredwell was called up and arrived on Thursday as a replacement for Swann.

Arthur had said on Sunday, after South Africa’s Twenty20 victory in Centurion, that England had shown little faith in Rashid. And he added on Thursday that if Tredwell played on Friday, the tourists would have proved him right.

"Rashid is a good bowler," Arthur said on Thursday, "and it will be interesting to see if they play him. It would be strange if they brought someone else in ahead of him."

But Strauss insisted that versatility was the only reason Tredwell had been called up. That decision, he said, had nothing to do with their faith in Rashid.

"The off-spinner is definitely an option we want to have. They’ve got quite a few left handers and that ability to spin the ball away from the left handers is an important one," said Strauss.

"Adil Rashid is improving all the time and I think the more exposure he gets to international cricket the better he’ll get as well. So I wouldn’t write him off by any means at this stage, but clearly from our point of view it’s important we have both options."

The opening batsman added that they would not be drawn into mind games on tour.

"We’ve always refrained from making big statements about the opposition because the world is round and these things can come back to haunt you pretty quickly," Strauss said.

"If they want to continue making those sorts of comments then that’s fine. We’re more than motivated enough as it is, so we won’t be playing that game."

England have been hit by a multitude of injuries and Strauss said strike bowler James Anderson (knee) and batsman Paul Collingwood (back) would be assessed at training on Thursday before a decision would be made on their availability.

The Proteas are still smarting from a 4-0 whitewash in England last year, as well as a Champions Trophy loss to Strauss’ team in September that knocked the hosts out of the tournament.

And while Arthur expects a tough challenge over the next few weeks, he said his side was eager to make amends after losing their last five one-day games against the tourists.

"England has played very well against us," Arthur said, "but it’s a work in progress. They’re a decent side and on their day they can beat anybody, but there is no more motivation for us than 5-0." Strauss, however, said he did not consider his side favourites as England go in search of a maiden one-day series victory on South African soil.

"South Africa at home are a hard side to beat, as they’ve shown time and time again," said the England skipper.

"But I like the way we’ve prepared. I think we’ve started the tour very well in the 50-over format (in warm-up matches).

"I like the brand of cricket we’re playing and now we need to take that off the practice ground into the middle in a one-day international.

"If we do that we’ll put South Africa under pressure. There’s no doubt about that."

Teams:

South Africa (from): Graeme Smith (captain), Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Alviro Petersen, Albie Morkel, Mark Boucher, Ryan McLaren, Roelof van der Merwe, Dale Steyn, Charl Langeveldt, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

England (from): Andrew Strauss (captain), James Anderson, Tim Bresnan, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Joe Denly, Sajid Mahmood, Eoin Morgan, Graham Onions, Kevin Pietersen, Liam Plunkett, Matt Prior, Adil Rashid, Jonathan Trott, Luke Wright, James Tredwell.
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