South Africa arrived in England late last week for a tour that will include three One-Day Internationals, three T20 Internationals and three Tests.

On Tuesday and on Thursday the Proteas will face the England Lions in two 50-over warm-up matches in both Taunton and Worcester.

South Africa has never managed to win a white-ball series in England, be it in ODI or T20I cricket.

The Proteas coach, Mark Boucher, is confident that his players have a good understanding of the English conditions.

“That is something that we all know about. It is quite tough coming to England and usually your one-day series is played at the beginning of this tour.

“We will have our meetings and we'll get a couple of guys to stand up and talk about what it's like and the different pressures of playing in England as well.

“During Covid times, we also didn't have the opportunity to play warm-up games. Now we actually are playing a couple of warm-up games, so that will stand us in good stead.

“We will try to give everyone a go. Unfortunately, it's only two games of cricket. The first game, we've opted for a match where we can try and get all of our batters to bat and then all of our bowlers to bowl.

“We will try to accommodate everyone, but it’s quite difficult when you've got 17 guys to look after.

“The second game will be a List A game, so it's basically the 11 that you choose. I'd like to think that it's going to be close to what we are looking to play in the first game.

“In the short period of time that we've got before the first ODI, we need to look after those 11 players as we get closer towards the starting game.”

Tuesday’s game between the English Lions and South Africa is scheduled to get underway at 12:00.

Morgan Piek/OFM Sport