Jonty Rhodes has ruled himself out of the fifth and final Test against England, having failed to recover from a groin strain.

Following a fitness test at Centurion Park on Thursday morning, Rhodes said he felt he owed it to the team not to jeopardise their chances of taking the series 3-0.

The middle-order batsman, known for his inspirational fielding, has been dogged by the injury which he picked up in the fourth Test in Cape Town a week ago.

His absence means he will have missed two of the five encounters with England after he was controversially dropped for Durban in December.

Rhodes will be replaced by debutant Pieter Strydom, who recently scored 86 against the tourists. The 30-year-old Border captain is close to the top of the batting averages this season, but he is not in the same class as Rhodes in the field.

Meanwhile, promising fast bowler Nantie Hayward has been released from the Test side to play for Eastern, meaning spinner Paul Adams will definitely play.

England will practice at Centurion on Thursday afternoon, but they are unlikely to announce their line-up until the morning of the match.

The pitch is predicted to be "quite hard and bouncy" and will no doubt favour the South Africans over the tourists' fragile batting.

South Africa

G Kirsten, HH Gibbs, JH Kallis, DJ Cullinan, WJ Cronje (capt), PC Strydom, L Klusener, SM Pollock, MA Boucher (wkt), AA Donald, PR Adams.