Wet weather has hampered South Africa's plans for the NatWest Series and their bid to return to the top of the one-day rankings.

Persistent rain ahead of Friday's opening day-nighter against England at Headingley has restricted the Proteas' practice to indoor nets and left them short of specialist skill drills such as death bowling and fielding.

South Africa captain Graeme Smith, whose side will leapfrog Australia at the top of the official standings with a 4-1 campaign win or better, bemoaned the lack of intensity in the tourists' camp since they won the Test series 2-1.

Rain has prevented them developing momentum ahead of the five-match campaign, leaving them somewhat ring rusty despite a run of 16 wins in their previous 19 one-day internationals, which temporarily put them above world champions Australia.

"We've had top spot for a little bit and Australia have taken it back," Smith said.

"It has been because of the success we've had around the world for the past couple of years, it's reward for that, and we really want to improve our game.

"I would like to think if we had been playing a fair amount of one-day cricket coming into the series everything would roll smoothly.

"Our battle is to get into the series in the first couple of games to get our standards up to the level we know we are capable of.

"We are pretty undercooked considering the cricket we have played.

"We are favourites in terms of what we have achieved over a period of time and that is fair enough. But as a team our feet are firmly on the ground in terms of what we need to do to be successful here.

"It has been very difficult to maintain the levels. The last week and a bit has been very slow and more mentally draining rather than anything else, trying to find things to do.

"It is fair to say the guys are thinking a bit about home but there are battles still ahead."

Some of those are off the field with Cricket South Africa officials due to discuss the Champions Trophy fiasco with their International Cricket Council counterparts on Saturday.

"I guess we have the same points as England," said Smith, hinting at reservations about playing in Pakistan.

"We are waiting to find out. We are hoping like England that the right decision is made.

"The rough thing for all teams is that we are so close to a major tournament and no-one knows what is going on."

Smith is suffering from tennis elbow but will play on until the autumn in all likelihood, but the South Africans will be missing one of their major players in all-rounder Albie Morkel.

He came into the five-match campaign with a shoulder injury, which he picked up while playing for Durham, and Smith admitted: "It is probably not looking good for him at the moment.

"I guess we will have to see where he is by the weekend and see whether or not he will progress.

"If not we might have to look at someone else. If he is not going to get any better we might have to act but he is in the hands of the physio at the moment."

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