South Africa captain Graeme Smith made it plain here today that despite leading the series 2-0 the visitors weren't about to give new England captain Kevin Pietersen a free ride in the fourth and final Test starting at the Oval on Thursday.

"We want to end the series well, we want to make it 3-0," said Smith.

"When we hold up the trophy at the end of this Test match it will be nice if we can have played really well here at the Oval."

Smith said the real pressures of captaincy for Pietersen would come with time.

"He's got a once-off Test match against us and he'll obviously be hugely motivated. He'll be excited, he'll be nervous and he'll have a lot of energy.

"It's about sustaining that afterwards. For us, the best way to keep him under pressure is to beat England. Like we did to Michael (Vaughan), we kept him on the back foot in terms of his performance and as a captain you know that pressure grows very quickly."

The South African captain warned that Pietersen would face many challenges.

"He's always been a very single-minded guy. He backs his ability and a lot of the time he comes off. He's become a really top-class cricketer.

"It's going to be interesting now that he's been thrown a lot of curve balls.

"As captain you have to have an open mind. You arrive at a stadium and there are so many different things to challenge you on any given day. It's not only about your own performance."

AFP