South Africa lose fear of failure

South Africa's euphoria after their victory in what has been hailed as the greatest one-day game of all time was officially declared over by the coach Mickey Arthur. "We spent the morning talking about it," Arthur said on Tuesday. "We had our psychologist in, reiterating team values and getting our feet back on the ground."

However, Arthur said the effect on the team of chasing down a world-record total to clinch the one-day series against Australia on Sunday was "huge". He said it had given meaning to his and the captain Graeme Smith's commitment to play "brave cricket."

"The guys had to be brave and it's shown them what can actually be achieved," Arthur said. "We'll probably never recapture that moment but the fear of failure went out the window on Sunday for our batters."

South Africa's Test players had their first practice on Tuesday in preparation for the start of the three-match series at Cape Town on Thursday. "Whatever has gone before us on Sunday is now officially over," said Arthur. "It's time to concentrate on Test disciplines."

South Africa have two major injury worries, with the veteran opening bowler Shaun Pollock and Andre Nel both on the doubtful list. Arthur said he was hopeful that Pollock would recover from a back strain that kept him out of Sunday's match. "He'll practise on Wednesday and we'll decide on Thursday," he said. "He is better and he's improving daily."

Arthur was less sure about Nel, who missed the last three one-day games after suffering a recurrence of a foot injury which caused him to return early from the tour of Australia in January. "We'll need to watch him carefully," he said. "He'll pass a fitness test and bowling ten overs won't be a problem, but for him to bowl 20 overs in a day might be an issue."