South African Captain Graeme Smith focused on Pakistan series
The South African ODI and Test captain Graeme Smith has claimed that his team has its focus on the series against Pakistan, as they start building up momentum for the 2011 50-overs World Cup scheduled to be held in the subcontinent.
The left-handed opener brushed aside the notion that the spot-fixing scandal that has rocked http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 would take the gloss out of the series that started today at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi.
He added that Pakistan cricket is generally embroiled in a controversy or two; hence, it does not bother him or his team.
"I think generally there are always one or two things going on in Pakistan cricket, so they're pretty used to dealing with stuff like that at least from a playing perspective. We still expect them to be very
competitive on this tour and conditions to suit them,” he said a day before the first match began, which http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 won easily by 6 wickets (and with 10 balls remaining.)
He added that his team has to ensure that they are not complacent and are fully focused on the job at hand.
Smith, who was appointed the captain of his country at a very young age, when he replaced all-rounder Shaun Pollock after the 2003 World Cup, added that his team has dealt with problems in their society over
the years and they are equipped to deal with adversity.
According to Smith, the onus of cleansing the game lies with the International Cricket Council, and he and his team can only give their cent percent on the field and hope to be competitive under any condition.
"The ICC has to control the integrity of the game and it's our responsibility to make the game as competitive as possible. We have to put our faith in the ICC to handle things properly. We've got a lot of
exciting guys coming through and it's a great platform for our team to kick start our summer. This month we take on Pakistan in the UAE and then an exciting series at home against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750. It's a very important phase for us in our preparation for the World Cup
and we want to go there and be competitive”.
The South Africans are looking at the ODI series as an opportunity to cover their bases for next year’s 50-overs World Cup that is set to be played on similar wickets in the subcontinent.
The Proteas are yet to win a World Cup trophy, and are not rated amongst the favourites for the tournament in conditions they have struggled in over the years.
The World Cup starts on 19th February and ends on 2nd April with the grand final at http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820.
Smith captained the team that looked like trophy material in the Caribbean in 2007, yet their tournament ended in a lopsided semi-final where they ran into the red-hot Aussie juggernaut that flattened them
comfortably.
Luck has generally deserted them in World Cups, and the jinx started in 1992 when they were thrown out of the tournament by virtue of the mind-boggling rain rule in the semi-final stage.
Since then, it has been either a rain ruling or sheer nerves that has seen them bundle out at the knockout stages in 1996, 1999, 2003 and 2007.
Their fortunes have been similar in the T20 World Championships, where Pakistan has knocked them out two years in running.
The latest defeat was at St. Lucia in the Super Six stages, which resulted in Smith relinquishing captaincy from the shortest format.
The team was led by spinning all-rounder http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-c89347 Afridi’s men when the two teams squared-up for the match; restricting
the men in green to 119 (all out) in the final over, and then comfortably posting a win in the 19th over at the loss of only 4 wickets, the Proteas reigned supreme over Pakistan. Let’s see what the results of the second T20I against Pakistan have
to say, but for now, the tides are in favour of Graeme Smith, Johan Botha and co.
Tags: