Rain leaves South Africa underprepared

South Africa's preparations for Friday's opening one-dayer against New Zealand were cut short by the bad Auckland weather, restricting them to only 30 minutes of practice.

"It's pretty disappointing," said Graeme Smith, South Africa's captain. "We had a very short warm up match in Hamilton yesterday and, although a few of the boys got some game time, we were looking to today's session to really get everyone up to speed, but I suppose its just one of those things we have to deal with over here."

One of the major topics of discussion since the South Africans arrived in New Zealand has been the pitches. Smith and Eric Simons, the coach, said that they ranked New Zealand's ability to exploit home conditions as one of their biggest strengths. The Eden Park pitch, however, is more difficult to read as it is a drop-in pitch and will be lowered into the main square only a couple of days before the match.

South Africa are likely to play the same side which won the one-day series against West Indies, with the only possible change being Nicky Boje for Robin Peterson.

New Zealand, meanwhile, will be without Nathan Astle, who is to undergo knee surgery, and Shane Bond, who is out with a long-term back injury, but Stephen Fleming is still confident of reeking revenge.

South Africa have lost only nine of the 34 one-dayers the two teams have played against each other, a fact which Fleming is all too aware. "You've got to acknowledge statistically that they've been better than us, but a lot of the games could have gone either way," Fleming said. "To not have a win against them in a series of any sort is something that is exciting for the team to try and complete."

The match takes place on Friday 13, what the New Zealanders call "Black Friday", but Graeme Smith isn't one for superstition, He joked, "Is that what the date is tomorrow?"

New Zealand (from) Stephen Fleming (capt), Ian Butler, Chris Cairns, Brendon McCullum (wk), Craig McMillan, Hamish Marshall, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Michael Papps, Scott Styris, Daryl Tuffey, Daniel Vettori, Michael Mason

South Africa (from) Graeme Smith (capt), Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Rudolph, Boeta Dippenaar, Ashwell Prince, Mark Boucher (wk), Nicky Boje, Lance Klusener, Albie Morkel, Makhaya Ntini, Robin Peterson, Jacques Kallis, Andre Nel, Shaun Pollock.