Former captain Graham Gooch will join England's coaching team on a temporary basis ahead of the Test series in South Africa.

Gooch, who scored 8,900 runs in 118 Test appearances, will join the Performance Programme squad in Pretoria before moving on to working with the main Test squad ahead of the current one-day series.

He has been asked to work with England's batsmen and head coach Andy Flower in the build-up to the series opener at Centurion on December 16.

"Graham is rightly regarded as one of the best batting coaches in international cricket and we are delighted to have secured his services for a key period of our preparations leading up to the first Test," said England and Wales Cricket Board managing director Hugh Morris.

The 56-year-old former international opener is currently employed as Essex's specialist batting coach.