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South Africa v India, 3rd Test, Cape Town, 3rd day
'They have their noses slightly ahead' - Smith
Dileep Premachandran in Cape town
January 4, 2007
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Graeme Smith made a battling 94 but not all South Africans could build on the starts they had
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Graeme Smith had to seek refuge in humour when asked about a pitch that
has put his team in an unenviable position heading into the final two days
at Newlands. Smith showed the way with a superb 94, but no other batsman
built on a start to construct a substantial innings, leaving South Africa
41 adrift at the end of the first innings. With the pitch affording sharp turn, albeit of
the slow kind, South Africa will need to bowl out of their skins on day
four to keep alive slim hopes of victory.
"Never ever," said Smith when asked if he had ever seen a pitch such as
this in South Africa. "Never ever, and hopefully never again," he added
with a rueful laugh.
But having set such a good example with the bat, Smith was in no mood to
concede victory to the Indians. "It's not hard to win," he said. "We just
have to play well. I think the wicket deteriorated a lot more than what we
expected. It took a lot of turn from both ends. There was more turn to the
right-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 success
too. There has not been a lot of natural swing around with the dry
conditions. We have to come up with a plan and get that. Obviously, how
our 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 new
ball, but Smith admitted that the decision to keep going with the old ball
hadn't surprised him. "We were going well and the ball was reverse
swinging a lot," he said. "The ball was quite soft and it was difficult to
score freely. They were creating pressure with the swinging and turning
ball."
Though the association between Smith and Hashim Amla realised only 29 more
runs in the morning, vital partnerships between Jacques Kallis and Ashwell
Prince, and Shaun Pollock and Mark Boucher, got South Africa within range
of India's total. And though he regretted not pushing on past 414, Smith
praised his batsmen for the manner in which they had adjusted to a
challenging surface.
"Talking to the guys who were batting, they were saying that the ball was
quite soft and to create any pace on it was difficult," he said. "There
were some soft dismissals today but we shifted into a subcontinental frame
of mind. It was also important to keep them under pressure."
Despite his reluctance to make any sort of excuse, there was no hiding
Smith's irritation at his team's predicament on a pitch that Wasim Jaffer
admitted was like a New Year gift to the Indians. "It's like playing in
India," said Smith candidly. "Batting fourth is always going to be the
toughest 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 it
on today. Those were the positives for us going forward. If we can take
the initiative and put India under pressure [with the ball], it will give
us an opportunity. The turning ball is going to be an issue."
Anil Kumble wasn't at his best on day three, but still finished with
figures of 4 for 117. It would surprise no one if Smith has the odd
nightmare contemplating what he might do on a fifth-day pitch.
Dileep Premachandran is features editor of Cricinfo
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