Hollioake will have to rally his troops after losing his Surrey team-mate Graham Thorpe. The batsman has suffered a bad back injury which will keep him out of the remaining one-day matches against South Africa - ranked the world's best one-day team. The middle-order star underwent a scan as England went down to a three-wicket defeat in the first of the three one-day internationals. Thorpe is still waiting for the results of the tests. But he will be sidelined as England battle to protect their proud record of not having lost a Texaco Cup competition for five years. And he could miss the start of the five-Test series against the tourists which starts on June 4.
Hollioake said he wanted to succeed as skipper but told the Daily Mail: 'I have always said I don't have aspirations to captain. It's not a massive ambition of mine.' He stressed England would battle back in an effort to win the series over the next 72 hours. 'We are confident we can put in better performances in the two remaining matches,' said Hollioake.