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JOHANNESBURG, Tuesday (Reuters) South Africa all-rounder Lance Klusener has one last chance to prove his value to the side in the five one-day internationals against Sri Lanka starting at the Wanderers on Wednesday.

Klusener, who was the player of the tournament at the 1999 World Cup in England, has failed to reach similar heights in the past two seasons and his place is now in doubt for the forthcoming World Cup which starts in February in South Africa.

He was dropped for the recent one-day series against Bangladesh and struggled for form during the Morocco Cup in August.

"We know what he is capable of doing so it's not a case of him having to prove his ability, but he has to show form with the World Cup looming," South Africa coach Eric Simons told Reuters. "Lance has reached a stage where we must try and give him as much time as possible to get him ready for the World Cup.

"Make no mistake, as hosts we are going to be under the most pressure and we are going to need players in form and players who can deal with that pressure."

South Africa defeated Sri Lanka 2-0 in their test series but lost three successive matches to the same opponents at the Morocco Cup.

"They are better at one-day cricket in our conditions and they have a tried and tested line-up," Simons said.

"They play an aggressive game and we expect them to attack the bowling early on so we have been working hard in the nets on making sure we bowl in the right places. It has a lot to do with bowling the right length. "They have some destructive batsmen and they showed in the test series that they will play aggressively so we know what to expect."

Sri Lanka have been boosted by the inclusion of veteran batsman Aravinda de Silva, who has played 288 one day internationals and was part of the World Cup winning team of 1996.

De Silva, who has retired from test cricket and only focuses on the shorter version of the game, is confident that Sri Lanka can win the series on South African soil.

"If we play to the best of our ability then I'm sure we have a chance," he said.

"The guys played very well in the test series and we had a good chance to win the second test. The team has come of age especially the younger guys, who are more aggressive than we used to be."

Both teams will decide their starting line-ups on Wednesday with South Africa waiting anxiously on the fitness of Jonty Rhodes.

Rhodes injured a hamstring in a domestic limited overs match last Friday and has been receiving treatment. He will be given to the last possible minute to prove his fitness.

Simons said he did not want to experiment too much with the team and would like to look for settled combinations with the World Cup so close.

"I would like to have a set format and try and keep a settled side, but that is not always possible is it?" he said.

"Ideally we would like to bat Jacques Kallis at number four and I don't want to do too much messing around."

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