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Andy Flower is confident the boos will continue to bounce off Kevin Pietersen - even though he believes the behaviour of the South African crowds is "sad".

Pietersen has had to contend with hostile receptions at each venue in the ongoing one-day international series, and the boos and whistles were especially noisy when he walked out to bat and off again after a short innings of three at Port Elizabeth on Sunday.

The Pietermaritzburg-born player will be back at what was once his home ground as England seek to complete a series victory over their hosts in Durban on Friday.

However many runs Pietersen manages there as he continues his comeback after four months out with an Achilles injury, Flower appears convinced the boos will not get to him.

"I think there's a bit of the pantomime villain scenario," the England coach said of a player who chose to leave his native country in search of a shot at international cricket elsewhere.

Pietersen's first visit back to play for England in South Africa was as a rookie four years ago, and he responded to similar treatment then with a string of big scores.

"I think he's used to that sort of reaction. I really don't think it affects him," Flower added of England's inked-in ODI number three.

While Pietersen's quest to regain his best form is one of the fascinations of a high-profile tour, Flower believes he has made a shrewd acquisition to help all England's batsmen.

Former England captain Graham Gooch, already in Pretoria with the Performance Programme squad, has been recruited as a specialist batting coach.

Flower explained: "In my present role, I'm not finding the time to work one on one with players like I used to - so I need some help in that regard.

"I couldn't ask for a better bloke to come in and help with the batting than Goochie.

"I know him very well from Essex and I rate him very highly as a coach, as a man, a cricketer - and I was very, very happy that when I asked him to join us he was dead keen."

Flower is hoping Gooch, set to stay with the squad initially only for the first match of a four-Test series at Centurion, will be on hand regularly in the future.

"I've got the utmost respect for him. He will bring a lot of experience, a lot of expertise, competitive spirit and patriotism," he predicted.

"He'll be a great guy to have around.

"But he's quite a busy guy with other commitments, and I don't think we could get him full time."

Flower has no doubt either that 56-year-old Gooch will be able to relate to his young charges both in the nets and away from them.

"Graham Gooch could have played in this era of attacking batsmen very easily," he said.

"From my knowledge of him as a bloke and a coach, he'll fit in absolutely perfectly - and there's no age barrier there at all."