Durban, Jan 12: Having led South Africa to a comprehensive 135-run victory in the first ODI of the five-match series against India, captain Graeme Smith was all praise for his teammates.
Smith acknowledged that it was a complete performance by his team and they had outplayed the opposition in all the departments of the game. The South African skipper said that 290 was a tough total and he knew that India will find it difficult chasing under lights.
Excerpts from an interview:
On the comprehensive win:
Yeah, it was a pretty complete performance. It was better than we expected coming into the game. I think the AB [deVilliers] and JP [Duminy] partnership was the key after Hash [Hashim Amla] played so well. I think we were superb with the ball tonight.
On the 290-run target:
I think we have had a lot of rain and the outfield has been slow. I think we had to be positive in our approach to a good total. Especially when we lost one or two wickets after JP [Duminy] and when AB got out just about the 42nd over it was all about getting to a good total. We wanted to play street smart. I thought a total of 290-300 was always going to be a tough total to chase down.
On Morne Morkel and Lonwabo Tsotsobe:
Yeah, I was pretty happy to be standing at the slips. It was a terrific spell. I mean if he bowls this way too often he will be very a difficult bowler to face in One-dayers. I think all of them bowled really well. I think Lopsy [Lonwabo Tsotsobe] led them well with great skill and good bounce. I think we have got a lot of positives tonight. Obviously, we will be looking at building on this.
On the impact of this series on World Cup preparation:
I think the World Cup will be played in a totally different environment. I think we are very realistic about that. I think playing well and getting good confidence. And having players performing well is the key. I think once the World Cup squad is selected I will be feeling a lot better. It will be nice to get that off the shoulder as the selection panel and as the coaching staff. From now on we would like to see the guys play with freedom.
