BIRMINGHAM (England), July 23: South Africa captain Graeme Smith said the death of Jacques Kallis’s father would give the team an added incentive to win the first Test against England at Edgbaston here on Thursday.

Kallis, 27, had been with his father since South Africa’s triangular one-day series final defeat against England on July 12.

“It’s obviously not great what’s happened to Jacques,” Smith told reporters on Wednesday. “But it might give us something extra and help put a smile back on Jacques’s face if we win.”

Smith said Kallis, South Africa’s star performer in the triangular series where he scored 329 runs at an average of 109, was under no pressure to return.

“We’ll give him free rein. When he feels ready will gladly take him back.”

South Africa coach Eric Simons added: “It’s a blow to lose a player of Jacques Kallis’s quality. He adds balance to the team.”

Smith, at 22 South Africa’s youngest ever captain, said weekend reports in the British press of a rift between him and predecessor Shaun Pollock were “total rubbish”.

He added: “I told Polly when I got hit in the face at Arundel (where South Africa had their final warm-up match against India ‘A’) that I’d tell the press we had a rumble.

“It’s absolute rubbish,” added Smith. “It’s first Test propaganda.”

Far from feeling under pressure himself, Smith said the burden of expectation would be on England captain Nasser Hussain who is returning to the leadership after retiring from One-day Internationals following the World Cup.

“Nasser wouldn’t be human if he wasn’t feeling some pressure from Michael Vaughan (England’s one-day captain) and the press about the two captains issue.”

Hussain said on Wednesday that South Africa were struggling to adjust to English conditions, citing out-of-form opening batsman Herschelle Gibbs as a particular example.

“It’s important Herschelle gets in the right place mentally,” said Simons, who added that the return of Gary Kirsten, like Hussain now a Test-match player only, to the batting line-up would help Gibbs.

“It was good to see him (Gibbs) get runs at Arundel (the Western Province right-hander made 79) and to see his feet moving.”

Smith refused to comment on the make-up of his side but insisted his inexperienced bowling attack would not be at a disadvantage.

“If you look at England, in many ways they are in the same boat.”

South Africa have won only two of their 13 Test series in England — in 1935 and 1965 — but Smith said current form would be more important than cricket history.

“We’ve won nine Tests in a row (althugh four of those were against Bangladesh) and hopefully we can carry on our Test record and remain the number two side in the world at the end of the series.”

Teams (from):

England: Nasser Hussain (captain), Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan, Mark Butcher, Anthony McGrath, Alec Stewart, Andrew Flintoff, Ashley Giles, Darren Gough, James Anderson, Steve Harmison, James Kirtley.

South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Herschelle Gibbs, Gary Kirsten, Neil McKenzie, Jacques Rudolph, Boeta Dippenaar, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock, Robin Peterson, Makhaya Ntini, Charl Willoughby, Dewald Pretorious, Paul Adams, Monde Zondeki.—AFP