da dobrowin： Graeme Smith spoke to the media after an engrossing day’s play
da wazamba： Dileep Premachandran in Cape town04-Jan-2007
Graeme Smith made a battling 94 but not all South Africans could build on the starts they had © Getty Images
Graeme Smith had to seek refuge in humour when asked about a pitch thathas put his team in an unenviable position heading into the final two daysat Newlands. Smith showed the way with a superb 94, but no other batsmanbuilt on a start to construct a substantial innings, leaving South Africa41 adrift at the end of the first innings. With the pitch affording sharp turn, albeit ofthe slow kind, South Africa will need to bowl out of their skins on dayfour to keep alive slim hopes of victory.”Never ever,” said Smith when asked if he had ever seen a pitch such asthis in South Africa. “Never ever, and hopefully never again,” he addedwith a rueful laugh.But having set such a good example with the bat, Smith was in no mood toconcede victory to the Indians. “It’s not hard to win,” he said. “We justhave to play well. I think the wicket deteriorated a lot more than what weexpected. It took a lot of turn from both ends. There was more turn to theright-handers.”I think the other key to their success was the reverse-swinging ball.They got it to reverse early and that’s going to be the key to our successtoo. There has not been a lot of natural swing around with the dryconditions. We have to come up with a plan and get that. Obviously, howour spinner and part-timers bowl will also be key. But with a 40-odd lead,they have their noses slightly ahead.”India waited till the 116th over before Sreesanth was given the second newball, but Smith admitted that the decision to keep going with the old ballhadn’t surprised him. “We were going well and the ball was reverseswinging a lot,” he said. “The ball was quite soft and it was difficult toscore freely. They were creating pressure with the swinging and turningball.”Though the association between Smith and Hashim Amla realised only 29 moreruns in the morning, vital partnerships between Jacques Kallis and AshwellPrince, and Shaun Pollock and Mark Boucher, got South Africa within rangeof India’s total. And though he regretted not pushing on past 414, Smithpraised his batsmen for the manner in which they had adjusted to achallenging surface.”Talking to the guys who were batting, they were saying that the ball wasquite soft and to create any pace on it was difficult,” he said. “Therewere some soft dismissals today but we shifted into a subcontinental frameof mind. It was also important to keep them under pressure.”Despite his reluctance to make any sort of excuse, there was no hidingSmith’s irritation at his team’s predicament on a pitch that Wasim Jafferadmitted was like a New Year gift to the Indians. “It’s like playing inIndia,” said Smith candidly. “Batting fourth is always going to be thetoughest part of the game and I think this wicket will break up a little.”A lot of the guys got starts, got to 50, but unfortunately no one took iton today. Those were the positives for us going forward. If we can takethe initiative and put India under pressure [with the ball], it will giveus an opportunity. The turning ball is going to be an issue.”Anil Kumble wasn’t at his best on day three, but still finished withfigures of 4 for 117. It would surprise no one if Smith has the oddnightmare contemplating what he might do on a fifth-day pitch.
