England captain Andrew Strauss has said that his side's need to overturn the first Test defeat to South Africa to retain their number one ranking is a "good challenge".

England lost by an innings and 12 runs at The Oval and Strauss is confident that the players are at their best when a challenge is laid down and predicts they will still win the series.

"I still think we will come back into the series," Strauss said. "We have often played our best when we have come off a defeat, and this is a good challenge for us. We have two games and we have to win them both to win the series.

"Everyone needs to go away and think about what they did in this Test match and steel themselves as much as possible to come and play some good, hard cricket next week - because that is what it will take."

England will retain their number one status if they win the remaining two Tests.