http://www.senore.com/Cricket/GC-Smith-c1473 hopes for a better show in 2012 – Cricket News Update
South Africa’s skipper Graeme http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Smith-c90598 was unhappy over his team’s performance throughout 2011, but hopes to turn things around next year.
The Proteas are currently playing a three match Test series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758, which is levelled at 1-1 with one more game to go in Cape Town, starting from Tuesday January 3, 2012.
Although critics expected the hosts to dominate the series, Sri Lanka bounced back strongly, winning the Durban Test by 208 runs. This has made the competition interesting, as both sides will be battling hard in Cape Town.
Despite not being able to make an impression this year, Smith hopes to do well right from the start of 2012 by beating Sri Lanka in the third and final Test of the series.
According to the South Africa skipper, “This has been a tough year for the Proteas. Hopefully 2012 will be a good one for us with the contests that lie ahead. Our problems are best dealt with out in the middle, through our performances and putting things
right.”
Smith and his men have been unable to win a home series for three years, but the team is fully motivated of breaking the shackles against the Lankan http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Lions-c808.
“The motivation is there for the players,” said Smith. He added, “The series is on the line -- and we haven't won a series for a few years in SA so we're not short on motivation. We need to regroup as a team and my challenge as the leader is to pick the
guys up, and make sure mentally they go into the test match in a strong, good place and are ready to play well.”
South Africa could have won the series in Durban, but the wicket was more suited to the opposition, as it was slow and offered some assistance to spinners.
The Lankan spinner http://www.senore.com/Cricket/CRD-Fernando-c1292 troubled the opposition
throughout the match.
Apart from that, the Sri Lankan batters also made a solid impression with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/TT-Samaraweera-c2712 scoring centuries.
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