South African skipper Graeme Smith on Thursday admitted missing an experienced spinner in his side during the two-Test series against India.
”We missed having a frontline spinner in the team,” Smith said after South Africa went down in the second Test by eight wickets on a pitch aiding turn to lose the series 1-0.
”Our young team has gained a lot of experience on this tour but the results could have been different if we had the services of an experienced slow bowler,” said Smith.
South Africa came here with only one specialist spinner in Robin Peterson, who played in the first Test.
Other left-arm spinner Nicky Boje missed the tour fearing detention over a match-fixing case being pursued by Indian police since South Africa’s last tour to India in 2000.
”We have had some gains from the tour like [Andrew] Hall and great performances like that from [Jacques] Kallis and will surely do better in future,” he said.
Hall struck a century in the first Test in Kanpur in a new role as opener while Kallis struck a ton in the first innings here and a fifty in the second.
Smith conceded his team could not take advantage of batting first.
”We should have scored in excess of 400. But we did not make the most of winning the toss by getting a big score,” said Smith on his team’s first innings effort of 305.
Smith felt their new coach Ray Jennings would help take the team forward.
”I am sure he will help us get good results in the coming matches,” said Smith.
Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly was happy at the way the second Test went.
”The pitch seemed flat when the match started but as it turned out, it was good for spin bowling,” said Ganguly.
”Both our spinners, Harbhajan [Singh] and [Anil] Kumble, bowled very well.”
Ganguly also praised the young South African team for fighting it out.
”They did pretty well considering they did not have much experience of playing in India, which can be very hard. They were also lucky that the pitches were a bit flat but still, all credit to them.” – Sapa-AFP