England can win in both cricket and football in S. Africa: Swann

Cape Town (S. Africa), Dec.16 (ANI): Off-spinner Graeme Swann is confident that England can win the cricket series and the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, given the talent and skill at its disposal.

"If England can win the Test series against South Africa, there is no reason why our footballers can't go on and win next year's World Cup here. I love the big tournaments and genuinely think England have a great chance of winning the World Cup," Swann writes in article for The Sun.

Coming to cricket, he writes that England has played a huge amount of one-day cricket since The Oval Test, and therefore, getting back into Test mode would be quite challenging.

"We can't dwell on success or live on past glories, but it's fun in quiet moments to reflect. And I always like plonking the traditional England cap back on my head, rather than the baseball-style, one-day headgear," he says.

Commenting about the first Test against South Africa, which is to be played from today at the Centurion, Swann says that Kent spinner James Tredwell has been called up as cover because "I've still got a niggle in my side".

Expressing confidence about being fit, he says he has no doubt that England can beat South Africa under Andrew Strauss's leadership.

According to Swann, Strauss has had a fantastic 12 months since taking over and is a very phlegmatic character on the field, and much respected off it.

"We're as ready as we can be for a Test match given the weather, itinerary and opposition in our warm-up games. The quick bowlers look in really good shape and that bodes well because the seamers ight get some help at Centurion. We haven't played Test cricket since August but a lot of the South Africans haven't played it since March. One-day and Test cricket are different games with different rhythms and that might count in our favour," he concludes. (ANI)