South Africa A captain Khaya Zondo is upbeat, despite rain-ruined preparations for their ODI series opener against the England Lions on Thursday. 

The team has not had much match practice ahead of the three-match series, as rain halted the warm-up match against Yorkshire after just 35 overs. The next match was also washed out, this time against Derbyshire, where only 20 overs were possible.

In spite of these setbacks, Zondo feels this has given the team more opportunity to spend time together. He also believes that the preparation the team put in before the departure for the UK will stand them in good stead.

‘The preparation has been good,’ he said. ‘We’ve had a lot of time to sit and gel. We had a lot of time in the nets in Pretoria during the camp and since we’re here as well, we’ve practiced a lot.’

Zondo insists that although only the batsmen had spent time in the middle before rain disrupted the warm-up matches, the team is ready for an England Lions side boasting the likes of Steven Finn and James Vince.

‘Everyone is looking in good nick and now it’s just a matter of using our experience going into that first game against the England Lions,’ he said. 

‘That will be important because of the fact that we hadn’t had enough game time due to the weather. But other than that we’ll just play it as we see it,’ he concluded.

South Africa A’s ODI series against the England Lions will be followed by a one-off four-day match against the same opponents.