Favourites SA looking for ruthless edge
Posted on
December 14, 2011 by
Ken
South Africa go into Thursday’s first test against Sri Lanka at Centurion as overwhelming favourites, but captain Graeme Smith said on Wednesday that they wanted to discover a ruthless edge to their play.
Although South Africa have maintained a position in the top three of the International Cricket Council test rankings for the last few years, they have not won a series at home since beating Bangladesh in 2008/9.
They have drawn series with England, India and Australia since then.
“I hope we get a lot of confidence out of the way we play. We’ve played some really good cricket at home, but we just haven’t been able to land that killer blow. We’ve dominated, but we haven’t done enough to get over the line,” Smith told a news conference at Centurion on Wednesday.
“I’m hoping we can string three good sessions together instead of just two out of three … that’s probably why we haven’t been able to beat the good teams. Hopefully we can string a whole day together against Sri Lanka.”
To make matters worse for the Sri Lankans, they were greeted by a pitch with a lush green covering of grass on Wednesday, conditions exactly the opposite to what they are used to at home.
“The pitch looks pretty green. I think the groundsman’s having a bit of a panic, he’ll be wanting heaters and I reckon there’ll be a tent up over the pitch this afternoon,” Smith said. “He only started preparing the pitch on Monday and he desperately needs some sunshine. I’m sure he hoped for more sunshine than he got.”
Sri Lanka captain Tillekaratne Dilshan said they were just going to have to perform on whatever surface they were given.
“The pitch looks good for fast bowlers, all fast bowlers will enjoy it. We have no control over the groundsman, we just have to play on that wicket. It’s definitely the greenest pitch I’ve seen in South Africa, even more than in 2002/3.”
Sri Lanka’s pace bowling reserves were decimated before the tour by injuries to Nuwan Kulasekara, Dhammika Prasad, Shaminda Eranga and Suranga Lakmal, while the tourists were still waiting for a replacement for the 25-year-old Nuwan Pradeep, who strained his hamstring in a warm-up game last weekend.
Sri Lanka have taken some encouragement out of their performance in that warm-up match, against a SA Invitation XI in Benoni. The visitors dismissed the home side for 357 and then made 207 for three in reply in a rain-shortened game.
“Our last test against Pakistan went very well, we came back strongly after losing the previous game. And the bowling unit did a great job on a really flat pitch and the top-order batsmen got runs in the warm-up,” Dilshan said.
While South Africa have the expectation of being favourites to live up to, their veteran wicketkeeper Mark Boucher is under enormous pressure to score runs and save his international career after 141 tests.
The 35-year-old has scored just 195 runs in his last dozen innings at an average of 17.72, but Smith said he backed Boucher to come good.
“Bouch is coming into the game with calm focus. He’s worked hard on aspects of his batting and I hope all the hard work comes off for him. As a team, we’re collectively behind Bouch, and I’m really excited with the way he’s trained, he’s looked good in the nets. He’s always an asset for a team, with his experience and the way he handles the bowlers,” Smith said.
Sri Lanka are hoping their luck will turn in South Africa, having lost six and drawn one of their seven tests in the republic.
The Centurion test is the first Sri Lanka have played in South Africa since 2002/3. The second test is in Durban from December 26 and the third in Cape Town from January 3.