da bwin： Graeme Smith insisted that there would beno trace of complacency against India
da supremo： Dileep Premachandran in Johannesburg18-Nov-2006
Graeme Smith: “Aggression is part of our attackand it’s certainly going to be there tomorrow” © AFP
South Africa’s one-day series win over Australia last March reaffirmedtheir strength on home soil, but Graeme Smith insisted that there would beno trace of complacency against India as his team came back to the sceneof world-record chase. He also didn’t read too much intoIndia’s defeat in the warm-up match, where Dale Steyn’s bustling pacetriggered a top-order collapse.”We analysed the Indian batting but obviously they will be a lot betterprepared for Sunday,” he said. “The Indians haven’t performed well inSouth Africa in the past but this is a pretty new squad. We are confidentabout our abilities in our country but we also respect the Indians a lot.”Smith suggested that a repeat of the March run-fest was unlikely, giventhe cloudy conditions, though he added that the Wanderers surface wasusually great to bat on. “Yesterday, it was damp and [the pitch] needed aday of sunshine but it hasn’t got that today because of some more rain.And thunderstorms are forecast for tomorrow. It’s going to be a stop-startgame.”He ruled out any major changes in the line-up, with the team havingreached the last four of the Champions Trophy in India last month. Theonly discussion was likely to be over whether to play the spinner – RobinPeterson – or supplement the pace attack with either Charl Langeveldt orAndrew Hall.The selectors would pick the squad for the remaining games after this one,and Smith admitted that it was a slightly bizarre situation. “It looks alittle bit weird but I don’t think the guys have noticed that much,” hesaid. “Also, we have been together for quite a long time and arecomfortable with the set-up.”We’ve always enjoyed playing at home, it’s something that we love. Wedidn’t play many games at home last year so it’s going to be fantastic tobe playing in summer. The fans have always supported us.”As for the opposition, Smith reckoned that India were unlikely to playboth Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble, even though they were “world-classbowlers”. He said: “The Wanderers hasn’t been huge for the spinners in one-daygames, and we’re playing on the same wicket as the one against Australia.”He also flat-batted the predictable question about Sachin Tendulkar, whoselast series against South Africa produced just single-digit scores. “He’sa world-class batter,” he said. “There are a couple of guys against whomyou prepare game-plans and hope you can produce them out on the field.Sachin is a key cog in the line-up and if we can put pressure on him, wecan get into the middle order quickly. Aggression is part of our attackand it’s certainly going to be there tomorrow.”That aggression saw off Australia, with Herschelle Gibbs’ wondrous 175leading the way, and India have their work cut out if South Africa aren’tto extend a formidable record of 12 wins and only three defeats datingback more than a decade.
