Smith looking to hit the heights

21 August 2008

Graeme Smith is hoping to feature in all of his side's NatWest Series campaign

Graeme Smith leads South Africa into their NatWest Series campaign against England planning a return to the top of the world one-day rankings and a break from a heavy schedule.

Smith, whose side will leapfrog Australia at the top of the officials standings with a 4-1 series win or better, has kept a painful bout of tennis elbow secret but is now facing up to a rest period in a bid to be fit for the bigger challenges ahead.

His most likely spell of recuperation, in his bid to lead the Proteas’ Test tour to Australia, will be the home series against Bangladesh this autumn.

Team-mate Jacques Kallis has suffered the same injury and opted to undergo surgery to cure the problem, a route Smith is keen to avoid.

“I have managed to sneak that under the radar,” said Smith, of his discomfort.

“That is what has been bothering me the whole tour and it is just getting worse and worse. I had a scan the other day and I will have to have a break at some stage to get it better.

“It will be about planning with the medical staff, missing some stage of the winter, to make sure I am ready for the big challenge at the end of the year.

“I don’t want to reach the point where there is no other decision in terms of what you have to do. Then you’re out.”

While Smith is determined to get through this series, South Africa will be missing one of their major players in all-rounder Albie Morkel.

Morkel came into the five-match campaign with a shoulder injury which he picked up while playing for Durham and Smith admitted: “It is probably not looking good for him at the moment.

“I guess we will have to see where he is by the weekend and see whether or not he will progress.

“If not we might have to look at someone else. If he is not going to get any better we might have to act but he is in the hands of the physio at the moment.”

Smith admits his squad have endured a hugely frustrating week due to the poor weather

Wet weather has plagued preparations for South Africa and that may prove a leveller for two teams separated by four places in the one-day table.

South Africa have won 16 of their previous 19 one-day internationals, a run which temporarily put them above world champions Australia.

Smith continued: “We’ve had it for a little bit and Australia have taken it back.

“It has been because of the success we’ve had around the world for the past couple of years - its reward for that - and we really want to improve our game.

“I would like to think if we had been playing a fair amount of one-day cricket coming into the series everything would roll smoothly.

“Our battle is to get into the series in the first couple of games to get our standards up to the level we know we are capable of.

“We are pretty undercooked considering the cricket we have played. We are favourites in terms of what we have achieved over a period of time and that is fair enough.

“But as a team our feet are firmly on the ground in terms of what we need to do to be successful here.

“It has been very difficult to maintain the levels. The last week and a bit has been very slow and more mentally draining rather than anything else, trying to find things to do.

“It is fair to say the guys are thinking a bit about home but there are battles still ahead.”