England took a
two-one lead in the MTN one-day international
series on Sunday when they trounced South Africa
by seven wickets after bowling them out for a
paltry 119 runs, thanks largely to a career-best
five wicket haul for James Anderson.
Proteas captain Graeme Smith said he was as
disappointed by the loss as he had been elated by
South Africa's massive 112-run victory in Cape
Town two days earlier.
"It was a hugely
disappointing performance today," he said. "Not so
much at the outcome of the match, although it's
always terrible to lose, but it's the fact that we
didn't assess conditions well enough and post a
total that would have been defendable.
"We came out guns blazing a little, and lost a few
key wickets up front, then really just bled after
that. No-one hung around with Alviro (Petersen)
who played really well again."
Petersen was the only South African to offer real
resistance, putting on 51 runs - nearly half of
the team's total.
"One-twenty just wasn't enough," said Smith. "If
we could have posted something over 200, then we
would have been in with a chance."
Asked about the way the series had
lurched from one side to another, Smith said it
was hard to explain.
"Both teams are battling with inconsistency at the
moment," he said. "From our perspective, we've got
a lot of young guys in key decision making areas,
and they need to learn quickly and grow with the
responsibility that's been put on their shoulders,
to move the team forward."
Smith said there
was real quality within the South African squad, and
they were working towards the future.
"These guys have got the ability - it's just about
getting their decision-making up to scratch." He said
it was important for the team to find its pattern
pretty quickly.
"We've got one more one-day game in this series, in
which we want to perform well and level the series,
and we've got another series in India after the Test
series against England, so it's an important period
for this team."
He said it was unlikely that major changes would be
made to the team before the final match in Durban on
Friday.
"The selectors have made a decision to give this team
an opportunity to run until the World Cup in 2011," he
said. "There is experience around the squad - guys
like Herschelle (Gibbs) and that's one of the things
we'll have to consider this week, once the emotions
(of the loss) have gone."
