{"id":6783,"date":"2012-01-06T20:23:02","date_gmt":"2012-01-06T18:23:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/01\/cricket-smith-hits-back-at-south-africa-critics\/"},"modified":"2012-01-06T20:23:02","modified_gmt":"2012-01-06T18:23:02","slug":"cricket-smith-hits-back-at-south-africa-critics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/cricket-smith-hits-back-at-south-africa-critics\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket-Smith hits back at South Africa critics"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

By Ken Borland<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

CAPE TOWN<\/span> Jan 6 (Reuters) – Captain Graeme Smith hit
\nback at the critics of his senior players after South Africa’s
\n10-wicket victory in the third and final test against Sri Lanka
\non Friday.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The win gave Smith’s men a 2-1 triumph, their first series
\nwin at home in three years.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“Someone’s head always seems to be on the chopping block …
\nbut we haven’t lost too many tests at home, we’ve just lacked a
\nkiller punch and the second-test defeat in Durban was a big
\ndisappointment for us,” the skipper told a news conference.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

South Africa’s defeat in Durban had prompted media
\nspeculation that Smith, all-rounder Jacques Kallis and
\nwicketkeeper Mark Boucher should step down.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Kallis, though, was the man of the match in Cape Town,
\nscoring 224 with the bat, claiming three for 35 with the ball in
\nSri Lanka’s second innings and taking a record-equalling six
\ncatches in the game.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Boucher did not bat but dropped two catches while Smith
\nscored 16 in South Africa’s first innings 580 for four declared.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“There’s no problem with Boucher and it was the first time
\nI’ve seen him drop a catch in ages,” said Smith. “As a gloveman
\nhe’s been excellent for us, ultra-reliable.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“When we go to England (this year), having a reliable
\nwicketkeeper will be crucial. As far as my own game goes I feel
\nI’m batting well, as well as I have in a long time,” added
\nopener Smith.
\n\u00a0 Continued…<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ken Borland CAPE TOWN Jan 6 (Reuters) – Captain Graeme Smith hit back at the critics of his senior players after South Africa’s 10-wicket victory in the third and final test against Sri Lanka on Friday. The win gave Smith’s men a 2-1 triumph, their first series win at home in three years. “Someone’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-6783","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6783\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}