SA plan to seize early initiative

It's our first series at home for some time and we really want to win Andrew Hall

All-rounder Andrew Hall said South Africa plan to take advantage of England's inadequate preparation when the Test series starts on Friday.

England, who have not played in Tests since August, lost their only warm-up game by seven wickets last week.

"As a team we're looking to strike early and get our tails up.

"They've come out of a loss to our A side, and it's going to be interesting to see how they bounce back," all-rounder Hall said.

"We know they haven't had a lot of cricket in the last couple of months and they've only had the one warm-up match.

"The longer the series goes on and the more they get used to the conditions and the more match practice they get, the tougher it will get."

Despite an excellent home record, South Africa are considered underdogs for the five-Test series.

They have slumped to sixth in the Test rankings after a difficult period of Test cricket played mostly away from home.

Vital series

"It's been difficult for us, because we've only played one series out of seven at home [in the last year]," Hall said.

"But if you want to be in the top three I suppose you have to play well away from home as well.

"We haven't toured well in the last couple of years, and it's something we've been working on - so for us this is a vital series.

"It's our first one at home for some time and we really want to win."

England's record of 10 wins from their last 11 Test matches has seen them rise to number two in the world - a ranking South Africa can take with a 5-0 series victory.

"We're not satisfied with the position we're occupying at the moment," Hall added.

"We know we're better than that and we know we can perform a lot better.

"From a team perspective it's important we re-build and try and get back up there as soon as possible."

Hall is in line to figure in an all-seam home attack for the first Test in Port Elizabeth, with spinner Nicky Boje set to miss out following an operation on his thyroid 12 days ago.