England Look to Reclaim no.1 Status

Londonn: England will want to reclaim the number one spot from South Africa when the two meet in the 3rd ODI at the Oval on Friday.
 
Swann's withdrawal from the rest of the series means a probable return for James Tredwell, while Chris Woakes could oust Tim Bresnan after the latter's expensive showing at West End.

South Africa have not taken their media commitments very seriously since the end of their victorious Test series. They were an hour late for the media conference for The Oval by which time pretty much everyone had lost interest so it is hard to know what they will do. Albie Morkel is ruled out, though Dale Steyn could be closer to a return.

Teams from:

England: Alastair Cook (captain), Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott, Ravi Bopara, Eoin Morgan, Craig Kieswetter (wk), Samit Patel, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Steven Finn, Jonathan Bairstow, Jade Dernbach, Chris Woakes

South Africa: Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, Jean-Paul Duminy, Dean Elgar, AB de Villiers (captain & wk), Faf du Plessis, Wayne Parnell, Ryan McLaren, Robin Peterson, Albie Morkel, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Imran Tahir, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn, Justin Ontong

Pitch & conditions
Rain was a problem during the 1st ODI between these two sides, and it resulted in the game being called off. The weather seems to be perfect though, for the 3rd ODI as the conditions are going to be bright and sunny on the 31st of August in London.

Stats and trivia

• England's appointment of Alastair Cook as Test captain in succession to Andrew Strauss ends their unique reliance on different captains for all three formats of the game.
• Paul Collingwood first suspected that Strauss was planning to retire when he told him he had bought a dog.
• South Africa last won an ODI at The Oval against England in 1999.

Match facts
Friday August 31, 2012 (day/night)
Start time 1300 local (1200 GMT)