JOHANNESBURG, Jan 12: South Africa are considering playing fast bowler Charl Langeveldt for the fourth Test against England despite his fractured hand, Graeme Smith said on Wednesday.

"He's not going to be 100 percent fit if the selectors do decide to pick him," the South Africa captain told a news conference. "The injury doesn't affect his bowling and fielding, just his batting. I feel he added value to our bowling in Cape Town."

Langeveldt injured his left hand while batting in the third Test, his first match, but then took five for 46 after taking pain-killing injections. South Africa won by 196 runs to level the five-match series at 1-1.

The fourth Test starts in Johannesburg on Thursday. Smith added that Mark Boucher, recalled to the squad after missing South Africa's last five tests, was odds-on to replace AB de Villiers behind the stumps.

"It does look that way at the moment," Smith said. De Villiers, 20, opened the batting in the first Test on his debut before taking the gloves from Thami Tsolekile in the second and third tests.

He now seems likely to be selected as a batsman ahead of struggling Hashim Amla, thus giving him his third role in four matches. "We do need to settle down with him, but there's not a great deal of difference about batting at number five, six or seven," Smith added.

"It's crucial that we start well, because England will come back fighting." But he dismissed the idea that the momentum in the series had swung his team's way after Cape Town. "Momentum means bugger all," he said. "Once that coin goes up it's a new game. We've played well without dominating".

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