Alastair Cook will be hoping England bounce back after a 2-0 series defeat at the hands of Pakistan. He failed to win the last three series against South Africa and the English skipper has a daunting task in his hands to avoid another series defeat, this time around with the younger players.
In the last four away series, England have managed to beat the Proteas only once, which came under the leadership of Michael Vaughan's leadership 11 years ago. Cook will be eager to repeat this and should he manage to do so, it will be a mental boost for the Three Lions, especially with South Africa being the number one Test team in the world.
South Africa also come into this series after a disappointing display during the Test series in India. It was the turning tracks that did the damage as their batsmen struggled to get runs on the board.
Hashim Amla, who is one of the best batsmen in the world today struggled against Virat Kohli's side. He will have a point to prove in the four match Test series, along with Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers.
England batsman Alex Hales could miss the third Test against South Africa in Johannesburg because of a throat infection.
The tourists, who lead 1-0 in the series, will decide on the opener's fitness on Thursday before the toss.
Many of Hales' team-mates have suffered from stomach bugs.
"Nick Compton and Chris Jordan suffered worst. Everyone else hasn't felt quite right at some point," said captain Alastair Cook.
Hales, 27, who scored his maiden half-century in the drawn second Test at Cape Town, trained alone in the nets on Wednesday morning before returning to his hotel room to rest.
If he fails to recover, England are likely to promote Compton to the top of the order and bring in Gary Ballance at number three.
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Hashim Amla, who scored a double hundred at Newlands, has stepped down as captain and been replaced by one-day skipper De Villiers.
"It's an exciting time to play and we are in a really good position," said Cook.
"The next two games are probably both on result wickets, which means we need to win one of them to win the series.
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"That's a great situation to be in. To win away from home, especially against the top-ranked team in the world, is particularly hard, so the guys are buzzing for that."
Asked about Amla's decision to step down mid-series, Cook said: "It's a huge honour to captain your country, but if you don't feel you're the right man for the job or you're not enjoying as much as you should, it's better for South Africa that he's strong enough to make that decision.
"It took a lot of guts from him."
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