England face selection problems for Sunday's opening one-day international against South Africa in Johannesburg, captain Michael Vaughan said on Saturday.

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Vaughan said Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen and Kabir Ali had all performed so well in the warm-up match against South Africa A on Thursday that they were complicating the position.

Vaughan was fulsome in his praise of Pietersen, who inspired England's six-wicket win with an innings of 97 off 84 balls, all but confirming that the South African-born batsman would play on Sunday.

"The players were still talking about his innings this morning, so it must have been something special," Vaughan told reporters.

"You certainly want any guy who can clear the ropes in your team and Kevin is a character, someone who is very confident and doesn't mind having a word. I like that.

"But Sunday's a big selection to make because Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen played so well in Kimberley and Kabir Ali bowled well.

"We will have a few new players on Sunday and it will be a big opportunity for them to try to establish themselves in the team. It will also be a great experience for them as we build for the World Cup in a couple of years time," Vaughan said.

Vaughan predicted the seven-match one-day series would be tightly contested, even though South Africa have fallen to seventh in the ICC rankings.

"It's going to be tough because they're a good team, especially at home, who bat very deep. They've got so many all-rounders.

"But their record is not so great in the last year, so that's something for us to aim at," Vaughan said.