Smith defines consistency ahead of first Test - Cricket News Update
Despite having played a handful of Tests in the calendar year, the pattern of those games exemplify the stance of South African skipper, Graeme Smith who feels that the team must show maturity in order to win matches on a consistent note.
The last home series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 was a perfect model which the Proteas do not want to repeat -where having grabbed the ascendency; they failed to put the final nail in the coffin and had to share the spoils.
Having won the first Test at Cape Town emphatically, the Proteas could not capitalize on the leverage provided by the Kangaroos in the second game at Johannesburg and ended up leveling the series. That meant that the team has now failed to win a home series
in over three years, where their last victory came against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747.
Setting the record straight, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Smith-c90598 recognizes the importance of taking the game from the scuff of its neck and wants to ensure that they maintain high intensity throughout the course of their matches.
"Instead of stringing two out of three good sessions together, we should be able to manage three out out of three," http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 Test captain said. "That's one reason why we probably haven't gone on to beat teams recently. Hopefully, we can
start stringing a whole day together."
Their next battle starts at Centurion against a Sri Lankan side, which have many problems of their own. Apart from the injury worries, their form has been abysmal of late which has seen them fall dramatically among the elite cricketing nations.
With little expectations, the tourists have a mountain to climb in order to beat a strong Proteas unit especially in conditions, which are alien to most of their players. However, Smith is taking nothing for granted and simply wants to ensure that his team
to get back to winning ways following the second Test defeat at the hands of the Kangaroos.
"We've all played enough cricket to know that if we don't give things the right amount of mental attitude and concentration, we can easily slip on that banana," he added regarding taking his current opposition seriously.
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