Skipper Andrew Strauss hailed Paul Collingwood and Jonathan Trott after England beat South Africa in the opening one day international.

Collingwood marked his England record 171st one-day international cap with his fifth hundred - an unbeaten 105 - and Trott, his partner in a 162-run stand, added 87.

The consequence was a seven-wicket win with four overs to spare at Centurion on Sunday, leaving Strauss to reflect on the qualities of two in-form players.

Collingwood described his "perfect and proud" day - and Strauss underlined the well-deserved achievement.

"Whenever there is a player with his temperament, they are always dangerous," he said.

"They always like the difficult situations - and Colly's played a lot of his best innings for England when our backs have been against the wall.

"As an opponent, I know you worry about players like that."

Trott, meanwhile, put in a major contribution on only his second ODI appearance.

"Trotty's form on this tour has been exceptional," added Strauss.

"We had no worries about him opening the batting - he's done it a lot for Warwickshire and is a quality player all round.

"He's a very determined character - there's no doubt about that.

"He loves batting, genuinely loves it - and allied to that, he's got a very solid technique which is well-suited to the international game.

"We don't want to put too much pressure on him. It is very early in his career, and he's shown he's got great ability - but we shouldn't expect great things of him every time he goes into bat."

Collingwood himself confirmed England's previous ODI record cap-holder Alec Stewart has been in touch with congratulations.

"He sent two bottles of bubbly - I drunk them last night," he joked.

"There were a couple of messages as well. That all came on Friday, but when it was rained off [at The Wanderers] it was all a bit early."

South Africa captain Graeme Smith knows his team are up against it to battle back into this five-match series against opponents who have now beaten them in six successive ODIs.

The absence of the injured Jacques Kallis - officially replaced by Herschelle Gibbs - has hardly helped.

But Smith remains optimistic.

"It's up to us now as a group of players to work hard in Cape Town this week," he said, looking forward to the third ODI on Friday.

"We've got a good record there."

As for Kallis' injury, Smith acknowledges its significance.

"It's very big," he said.

"There's a gap of experience around our group at the moment that needs to be filled.

"When you lose a guy that's played 280-plus one-day internationals and is a world-class all-rounder, it does make life a little bit more difficult.

"The rest of us are going to have to step up and fill the gap."