Gary Kirsten focused on Lord's Test

South Africa coach, Gary Kirsten has said that his country aspired for the No. 1 ranking in all forms of the game ever since England reached that position. 

South Africa are already ranked No. 1 in T20 cricket and can reach the summit in the Tests as well if they win or draw the final Test at Lord's. They are currently ranked No.2 in the ODI format of the game. 

The Proteas took over as the new No. 1 T20 team at the annual rankings update of the ICC. The T20 and ODI series which follows the Lord's Test may change at the end of the tour, but for now Kirsten is focused on the Test series. 

"Way back in August last year we put a peg in the ground and said we wanted to become the best cricket team in the world in all forms of the game," he said. 

"Some people say we are not sure about the rankings; does it hold any water? But deep down every team aspires to it. They like to know they are number one in those rankings. We certainly take it with importance." 

Kirsten refused to dwell into the controversy surrounding England batsman Kevin Pietersen, instead he said that his team would respect the opposition on the field of play. 

"We will focus on our preparation and the work that we do. We always respect the opposition," he added. 

"We understand we are playing against quality opposition. We will never under-estimate any team, we will never go into any Test match complacent and arrive thinking the job is done." 

"We will do the preparation necessary to look at the opposition and what they have got in their team and how we can exploit certain areas." 

"We don't focus heavily on individuals; we look at their team make-up and we look at ways we can exploit. It is no different to what we would do in a normal Test match." 

"We like to believe if we get our stuff right and we get our preparation right and we execute in the right way, we are a difficult team to beat." 

"We need to be humble every hour of the Test match to make sure we set a strong foundation to give us a good chance of getting the success we want in the Test match." 

"We will go out there and play our brand of aggressive cricket because we believe that is key to our success." 

England will field an inexperienced middle order with Jonny Bairstow and James Taylor in the fray. Kevin Pietersen will miss the Test following a disciplinary hearing of the ECB.