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01-Aug-2012 03:02:00 GMT
England v South Africa, 2nd Test, Leeds

England Seek Series Levelling Against SA

Leeds: England will seek to bounce back after what spin bowler Graeme Swann described as a "public humiliation" when they face South Africa in the second Test starting at Headingley on Thursday.

England's ranking as the number one Test team is under threat after they were beaten by an innings and 12 runs in the first Test at the Oval last week, with the hosts taking only two wickets while South Africa piled up 637 runs in their only innings.

Swann revealed that the England players spent two hours analysing their defeat immediately after the first Test and England coach Andy Flower insisted that confidence remains high and that the team could come back strongly.

England will lose their number one ranking if the tourists win what is only a three-match series and so they need to bounce back quickly.

However, they can draw some comfort from recent South African defeats which have followed innings wins.

The Proteas beat India by an innings in the first Test in an away series in 2009/10 and a home series in 2010/11 only to lose the second Test each time, and that dubious feat was repeated at home against Sri Lanka in 2011/12.

They also won the first Test against Australia last summer, albeit not by an innings, only to lose the second clash.

Specialist batsmen Jacques Rudolph and JP Duminy did not bat at the Oval and failed to strike form in four innings apiece in warm-up games against county teams, while the South African tail does not have the batting credentials of the England lower order.

However, Rudolph, who spent five years playing for Yorkshire, brushed aside any concerns when he spoke to journalists on Tuesday.

South Africa will almost certainly stay with the team that triumphed at the Oval, while England will make at least one change following the withdrawal for personal reasons of batsman Ravi Bopara.

Uncapped James Taylor was called into the squad and will make his debut unless England decide to go in with an extra bowler.

Flower said, though, that a four-man attack had served England well and he did not see any reason to change the strategy.

If Taylor does play he will come into the match in good form, having made 163 not out for Nottinghamshire against Sussex in a county match at the weekend.

Tall fast bowler Steven Finn, who was in the squad but did not play at the Oval, could be brought in to provide more penetration to the England bowling attack in place of Yorkshire pace bowler Tim Bresnan.

Teams from

England:
Andrew Strauss (captain), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, James Taylor, Matt Prior (wk), Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Steven Finn, Graham Onions.

South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Alviro Petersen, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers (wk), Jacques Rudolph, JP Duminy, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir, , Thami Tsolekile.

Pitch & conditions
With conditions likely to be more bowler-friendly at the Yorkshire ground than they were at the Oval, England will seek to exploit the potential weakness of South Africa's batting from number six down.

Match facts
August 2-6, 2012
Start time 11:00 local (10:00 GMT)


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