Aussies are under pressure, says Smith
Australia will be a touring team under pressure when they arrive in
South Africa Monday, according to South African captain Graeme Smith.
Australia will play three Test matches, five one-day internationals
and two Twenty20 internationals on their two-month tour.
South Africa will be favourites after winning both the Test and one-
day series in Australia recently.
It is a position with which the host nation will be comfortable,
Smith said in the South African Sunday Times, although he warned that he
expected an Australian backlash.
“It’s going to be an unusual place to be for a South African team,”
said Smith.
“It’s a great feeling and a reward for all the sacrifices everyone
has made. But we know that Australians are very competitive people and
they don’t like to be on the back foot. The only way we can keep them
there is by playing better cricket again.”
The side that Ricky Ponting will lead is one of the most
inexperienced Australian touring parties in recent history and Smith
said they would lack the confidence that previous sides had on the
second leg of the back-to-back tours that have been the norm for South
Africa-Australia contests.
“On previous tours they have come here with confidence having had the
foot on us right through the summer there and they’ve just carried it
on. Now, even their experienced guys will come here in a different frame
of mind, while the younger players are coming here for the first time.”
Smith said the Australians faced several selection issues while South
Africa had already announced they would field the same starting eleven,
with the addition of left-arm pace bowler Lonwabo Tsotsobe, that won the
first two Tests in Australia before losing the third game.
“They’re a touring team under pressure and it’s never easy,” he said.
“If we can play well in the first Test maybe we can open up a few
cracks.”
One good omen for the Australians is that they will travel to the
small university town of Potchefstroom, an hour’s drive west of
Johannesburg, immediately after their arrival.
With good training facilities and no big-city distractions,
Potchefstroom was chosen by Australia as their pre-tournament base
before the 2003 World Cup in South Africa. They went on to lift the
title without losing a match.
After three days of training, the Australians will open the tour with
a three-day match against South Africa A in Potchefstroom Friday before
moving back to Johannesburg for the first Test starting February 26.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Sunday, AFP |