DURBAN // South Africa’s players were desperate to hit the ground running despite the short break between Test matches, Graeme Smith said on Tuesday, two days ahead of the second Test.
“I’m actually looking forward to it. The stop-start nature of our Test summer has made it difficult to just keep starting again,” Smith said.
“Certainly, having played a Test match like that, I think all of us now are looking forward to taking the next step again and hopefully producing performances that we’ve been capable of.”
Smith said he believed that his team has swiftly processed what happened at the Wanderers and was in the right mental space leading into the second Test.
“From an emotional perspective, it’s been an interesting few days. I think as a team, perspective is always important and putting things into context, understanding what needs to be done,” the captain said.
“I feel we’re mentally ready and today’s training session is an important part of that. Hopefully it will be really good, high intensity and we’ll be ready for Boxing Day. I’ll have no doubt.”
The 108-run stand between Smith and Alviro Petersen set up South Africa perfectly in the fourth innings of the first Test, and it was only the sensational middle-order collapse, where five wickets fell for 16 runs, that brought India back into the game.
“I think the top three in any Test line-up play a crucial role. If you go back generations, you’ll see there’s no successful team without a top three,” Smith said, referring to the importance of strong starts.
“You need guys who can put in performances and set games up. It really is a big stepping stone to setting up a Test match win, especially when you’ve got stroke-players in the middle order.
“It’s important that we do the hard yards for them and make that ball old and soft. From my perspective, it’s great to see Alviro play well. I think it’s 20-odd Test matches we’ve now been together and we’d love to carry that on. As you said, the opening partnership is a crucial factor in the success of any team.”
Despite Imran Tahir’s struggles in the first Test, Smith did not rule the leg-spinner out of contention for a bowling berth.
“I think we’ll make the decision in the best interest of how we feel tactically the wicket will play throughout the five days, not just one day,” Smith said. “I think the Wanderers historically is a difficult place for a spinner to bowl. I don’t think Ashwin was effective, either.
“I think we just need to set-up and see how Morne comes through his fitness test and then decide what’s going to be our best attack to win a Test match and make those decisions accordingly over the next two days.”
At the back of Smith’s mind was the fact that South Africa had made India’s bowlers toil in the second innings of the first Test, but this would not automatically prompt him to ask India to bowl first, should the opportunity arise, in the second Test.
“I think that workload will be in their legs somewhere in the Test match,” he said. “I think, especially if we can get a good partnership somewhere in our top order, we can make them work hard.
“Hopefully we can take advantage of the amount of time they bowled.
“They only had three seamers, who did a huge amount of work. The only fortunate thing is our bowlers have had an extra day to rest. But that decision will be based on the surface.”
Smith said that South Africa’s sustained success had allowed them to think less and less about what would happen at the toss. “I think for us as a team, the more confident we’ve got, the less the toss has been a worry for us.
“I think we feel we’ve got bases covered and we can be effective either way. So hopefully on Boxing Day we’ll make the decisions that can have the biggest impact and I think if we can get our skills right, that will be a factor.”
Pujara preparing for Steyn pace
Cheteshwar Pujara, India’s top-order batsman, lauded his teammates for the way they dealt with the pace of Dale Steyn, South Africa’s fast-bowling spearhead. Pujara, though, added a note of caution ahead of the second Test.
“It’s a good thing for us that Steyn didn’t get any wickets, but he’s a good bowler and we don’t want to underestimate him,” the right-hander told reporters in Durban on Tuesday.
“We have to be as careful against him, even in this match. As a team we can’t take him lightly. It’s just that we had very good success against him in the first Test and we will try and continue the same thing in this match.”
Anand Vasu is managing editor at Wisden India
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