Nottingham - England captain Alastair Cook won the toss and elected to bat in the fifth and final one-day international against South Africa at Trent Bridge on Wednesday.
England made two, injury-enforced changes from the side that won the fourth ODI at Lord's by six wickets on Sunday to go 2-1 up in the series for this day/night clash.
Jonathan Bairstow replaced Jonathan Trott after the South Africa-born batsman was ruled out due to a hand injury suffered while facing Proteas fast bowler Dale Steyn at Lord's.
And Chris Woakes came in for fast bowler Steven Finn, out with a back problem.
This was Bairstow's first ODI appearance since featuring against India in Kolkata in October last year and Woakes's second of the series after he was selected for the washed out no-result opener in Cardiff.
England also 'rested' coach Andy Flower from this match in order to give the former Zimbabwe batsman a break in the middle of a crowded schedule, with fielding coach Richard Halsall taking temporary charge of the side.
Meanwhile South Africa tried to strengthen their batting, which had let them down in defeats at The Oval and Lord's, by bringing in Justin Ontong for his first ODI since February and dropping Ryan McLaren.
And fast bowler Morne Morkel, rested at Lord's, returned in place of left-arm seamer Lonwabo Tsotsobe.
Even if South Africa win this day/night match, and so square the series, England will remain top of the ODI world rankings for the rest of 2012.
England: Alastair Cook (capt), Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Jonathan Bairstow, Eoin Morgan, Craig Kieswetter (wkt), Samit Patel, Chris Woakes, James Tredwell, James Anderson, Jade Dernbach
South Africa: Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, Dean Elgar, AB de Villiers (capt/wkt), JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Justin Ontong, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel
Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (SRI) and Richard Illingworth (ENG)
TV umpire: Simon Taufel (AUS)
Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)
Sapa-AFP