The first of three ODI matches between SA and England will be held in Leeds on Tuesday.
Fresh off a series victory over Australia, captain Temba Bavuma says the Proteas are looking to build on their form in a three-match one-day international ODI series against England starting in Leeds on Tuesday (first ball at 2pm).
While they were thumped in the third ODI against Australia, the Proteas had convincingly won the first two matches, earning a 2-1 series win.
And though Bavuma acknowledged that their crushing loss in the dead rubber final game in Mackay had shown that the Proteas needed to make some improvements on their tour of England, he said they were in a good space heading into the opening match.
“Winning away from home is never an easy feat, so we won’t look past that. We wanted to win the series and we did that,” the skipper said.
“I think it’s obviously shown that there are areas within our game which we still need to improve… and this series will give us another opportunity to improve on those facets within our game.
“The younger guys coming into the team, we’ll be giving them more opportunities to see the extent of the role they can fill within the team, and we just want to make sure we keep winning as a team while we’re working towards where we would like to be.”
Time taken to recover
With just eight days between the tours of England and Australia, the SA squad travelled directly to the UK, and while they did not have a chance to return home before tackling their next assignment, Bavuma said they had enjoyed some rest after arriving in England early last week.
They had been training, but Bavuma said they had taken some time to recover, with some players in the squad even getting an opportunity to watch an English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Arsenal on Sunday.
“The first couple of days since we arrived in Leeds was more about the guys recovering and getting over jetlag,” Bavuma said.
“We’ve had our practice sessions in the gym and on the field, and a bit of leisure for the boys – some golf and some of us went to watch the football – so that’s been our week.”
Meanwhile, with fast bowler Kagiso Rabada’s workload being managed after he missed the ODI series against Australia with an ankle injury, team management confirmed yesterday that uncapped seam bowler Codi Yusuf had been called up to the Proteas squad.
SA team, first ODI against England
Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Temba Bavuma, Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, Dewald Brevis, Wiaan Mulder, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj, Nandre Burger, Lungi Ngidi
