Jennings ready to let loose the young guns

Ray Jennings, South Africa's coach, was keen to downplay any suggestion that his team had gained a psychological advantage ahead of the first Test at Port Elizabeth, following England's emphatic seven-wicket defeat against the South Africa A side at Potchefstroom on Monday.

The England camp was in a bit of a lather after that game. Michael Vaughan described the result as a "kick up the arse", while the players took part in an emergency middle session after the early finish, to put their undercooked batsmen through their paces. Jennings, however, was dismissive of the result, claiming that points scored in practice matches counted for nothing, and that the only relevant battle was the one that begins at St George's Park on Friday.

"We can take nothing out of that game that we didn't know already," Jennings told reporters at South Africa's training camp in Pretoria. "It wasn't a positive factor for us. England are the type of guys that struggle on quicker wickets, and they are coming off the back of a quiet period at the end of their season. Nothing jumped out [of that match] to say: 'hell, we didn't know that.'"

Jennings even went so far as to suggest that the result could be bad news for the senior side which, in the course of a chaotic few weeks, has begun to cultivate an image of plucky underdogs ahead of this series. "It could be a bad thing from our point of view," he admitted. "The public's expectations will be higher, along with those of the players. But from a positive aspect, England didn't occupy the crease for any length of time, and it is exciting to see pressure for places being created in South African cricket. The A guys wanted to do well, and there's nothing better than beating the opposition."

South Africa's build-up to Port Elizabeth has not been without its complications, with Jacques Kallis rated "80 percent to play, and 50-50 to bowl", after his slow recovery from an ankle injury, and several players including Thami Tsoleleki (tonsillitis), and Graeme Smith, Zander de Bruyn, Andrew Hall and Boeta Dippenar (food poisoning) all under the weather in recent days. Furthermore, Nicky Boje seems unlikely to recover in time from an operation on a cancerous growth in his neck, even though he bowled for 40 minutes at the nets, and declared himself optimistic at the end of it.

But, following a tough tour of India last month, Jennings was looking forward to unleashing his charges on home soil. In particular, he hopes to unveil his exciting young pair from the northern Limpopo Province; the fast bowler Dale Steyn, and the batsman AB de Villiers, who is set to open the batting alongside his captain, Smith. "Both Dale and AB are very confident and organised cricketers," enthused Jennings, who explained why he resisted the temptation to blood them in India. "There are too many unknowns over there - the pitches, the people, the food, for example. Here it is more comfortable for them. They know the players, the grounds and the opposition, and their fear factor comes across as excitement instead of apprehension."

That subtle shift in mindset could be enough to change South Africa's whole approach to the series, and Jennings believes that de Villiers and Steyn have what it takes to carry the attack to England's cricketers. "If we turn on the gas, it could take England's bowlers all series to find their right areas," he suggested, pointing out that India's Virender Sehwag had done just that to his own bowlers in the series just gone.

"AB is a Sehwag type of guy," added Jennings. "He plays with freedom, just like Herschelle Gibbs. I'm not asking him to change his technique, I'm only here to smarten it up and make him understand what ball to hit and when. Likewise, I'm not going to ask Steyn to slow down and swing the ball. Pace is his strength and I want him to reproduce it."

"We may be underdogs for this series," concluded Jennings, "in terms of the world ratings, and in terms of the number of caps in the team as well. But England are playing in our own back garden, and we are not going to allow them to play their own game. This is a new phase in South African cricket. We want to beat the world No.2 in front of our home crowds, and we intend to win convincingly."