4th ODI: series level but SAfrica have momentum

4th ODI: series level but SAfrica have momentum

Updated at: 1300 PST, Sunday, November 29, 2009 PORT ELIZABETH: Andrew Strauss is confident his team can respond to the heavy defeat at Newlands. The scoreline says the series is all square, but after such a convincing 112-run victory at Cape Town South Africa are now the side with the momentum. It shows how quickly situations can change in one-day cricket and, following their crushing win in the second Twenty20 international, Friday's performance was the second time the home side have responded to defeat in powerful style. After a fairly insipid display at Centurion, the Newlands version of South Africa was much closer to living up to their pre-series billing. The batting, led by AB de Villiers' awesome striking, fired as a unit and the bowling attack packed much more punch with the inclusion of Wayne Parnell and Morne Morkel. Parnell continued his impressive knack of bagging large hauls with a career-best 5 for 48 to follow the five-for he took against New Zealand at the Champions Trophy. If he stays fit Parnell is set to be a key figure throughout this tour. Watching England in any format should come with a health warning, but their one-day performances are most likely to send supporters lurching from delight to despair. As Andrew Strauss said after the defeat at Newlands the one-day squad is a work in progress, so humbling reversals are to be expected. It follows the pattern of the Champions Trophy when memorable victories against Sri Lanka and South Africa were followed by heavy defeats against New Zealand and Australia. It is a quick turnaround between the weekend matches. Both teams had early-morning alarm calls to catch flights to Port Elizabeth and England's players were offered an optional training session. A key feature of the Strauss-Andy Flower regime has been level-headedness and the vibes coming out of the camp are 'don't panic'. Going straight into the next match means they have little time to stew over the previous performance which could work in their favour. South Africa, though, really mean business. Alviro Petersen has slotted well into the middle order and Hashim Amla is churning out the runs as Jacques Kallis' understudy so South Africa's batting is solid. The one concern for them is Dale Steyn who bowled six overs at Newlands before leaving the field with a hamstring strain. If he is ruled out Charl Langeveldt could be recalled, while Johan Botha may be considered for the struggling Roelof van der Merwe. SQUAD: South Africa: (possible) 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 AB de Villiers, 4 JP Duminy, 5 Alviro Petersen, 6 Mark Boucher (wk), 7 Ryan McLaren, 8 Wayne Parnell, 9 Roelof van der Merwe, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Charl Langeveldt England (possible) 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Jonathan Trott, 3 Kevin Pietersen, 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Matt Prior (wk), 7 Luke Wright, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Tim Bresnan, 10 Graeme Swann, 11 Graham Onions.