South African captain Graeme Smith said his side is confident about squaring the one-day series against Pakistan in Friday’s fourth game in the five-match series.
”Our practice on Monday probably was the first day where I have seen South Africa play like a team … and it has now adjusted to heat and the energy in the squad was back,” he said Thursday.
He said his team played with a lot more energy in Tuesday’s game in Faisalabad, when they narrowly averted a series defeat with a 13-run victory calculated using the new Duckworth-Lewis formula after the match was cut short due to bad light.
The tourists go into Friday’s match at Rawalpindi down 1-2, with the final match in the series on Sunday also to be played in the commercial city near the capital Islamabad.
”If we do improve we will be a difficult side to beat,” Smith said.
The tourists lost the first two matches — both played in Lahore — by eight and 42 runs respectively.
The Proteas are playing a shortened tour after retracting a decision to cancel the tour in the wake of a bomb blast in the southern city of Karachi three days before they were originally due to arrive.
Karachi and the northwest city of Peshawar were dropped from the shortened itinerary.
Since the tourists arrived for a 29-day tour on September 30, they have been under presidential-style security, with scores of commandos deployed to guard them round the clock.
”We are trying to concentrate on our cricket and there are other people to deal with security. We have seen some parts of Lahore and some of the guys went shopping today but the main focus is on cricket,” he said.
Smith played down the on-field behaviour of opening bowler Shaun Pollock, who was fined by match referee Clive Lloyd after the third match for dissent.
”Its not a concern, I think both teams need to be more mature about the things on the field because every little thing is taken too harsh,” he said.
”Since you are playing for your country, pride and passion are involved and moments do get heated.”
Pakistan is still nursing hopes of a recovery by captain Inzamam-ul Haq, who missed the third match due to a hamstring
injury. Coach Javed Miandad said he had a 50-50 chance of playing.
Pace bowler Mohammad Sami, who missed the third match due to a side strain, has regained full fitness and will play. — Sapa-AFP
Teams:
Pakistan: Inzamam-ul Haq (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Yasir Hameed, Yousuf Youhana, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq, Rashid Latif, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami, Shabbir Ahmed, Umer Gul, Naved Latif, Faisal Iqbal
South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis, Shaun Pollock, Neil McKenzie, Jacques Rudolph, Robin Peterson, Andrew Hall, Alan Dawson, Makhaya Ntini, Charl Langeveldt, Andre Nel, Boeta Dippenaar, Herschelle Gibbs, Paul Adams, Morne van Wyk