(Adds last para)
By Ken Borland
JOHANNESBURG, July 2 (Reuters) – South Africa’s trip to
Switzerland will hopefully help their players bond ahead of the
showdown tour to England, according to coach Gary Kirsten.
The squad left Johannesburg on Monday and will spend three
full days in Switzerland before arriving in England on Friday.
“We’ll have 17 days together as a team before the first test
at The Oval on July 19 and we just wanted to cover all our
bases,” Kirsten told reporters
““We’ll be playing against a very high quality team so we
really need to connect as a unit. The series might well boil
down to a couple of crucial moments and we want to make sure
that we are up for those.”
South Africa captain Graeme Smith will play his 100th test
at the Oval.
Smith said beating England in the series and reclaiming
top spot in the world rankings were his prime motivations
““”I’m obviously extremely proud to have the opportunity to
play 100 tests for my country and my motivation is the same as
it was on my first tour of England,” said the opening batsman.
“We don’t need much more motivation than beating England in
England.”
The two teams will contest a five-match test series.
(Editing by Tony Jimenez)
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