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| South Africa's disintegration poses salivating prospect for Cape Town | Vic Marks Graeme Smith admits his side have big problems, chiefly what to do about Makhaya Ntini and how to handle Graeme SwannThe monotone voice and glazed look of South Africa's captain were as eloquent as his words after the Durban Test. "It's massively disappointing," said Graeme Smith, the man who had managed to see off the best of England's recent captains (Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan) but could find no gloss for his side's performance."We must congratulate Andrew Strauss and his team. We have been outplayed and we have to be honest with ourselves. We represent a lot of people's hopes and we have to take a long hard look at ourselves. We just weren't good enough."This was a numbing defeat for South Africa and for Smith. The speed of their disintegration in this match surprised both sides and there will be some serious agonising by the home side between now and the start of the Cape Town Test on Sunday. "It's important to take our emotions out of this, to get to Cape Town and make the best decisions for a crucial Test," said Smith.One down with two to play, the South Africans are under the cosh. They have to contemplate playing "catch-up" cricket, which is not the way they like to play the game. Their preference is to eliminate as many risks as possible, to grind the opposition down with iron discipline. Bat long and bowl dry.It is not a bad system though it is almost the antithesis of the Australian way, which is to bat fast and go for the jugular. Take the recent Melbourne Test between Australia and Pakistan. It would have gone against the grain for a South African captain to declare as prematurely as Ricky Ponting did in both innings.Generally Ponting's first priority is to give his bowlers enough time to win the game (though this may change in a tight Ashes series), the South African way is to ensure that the opposition do not have a chance of winning and only then to press for victory. Now Smith's team may have to swerve.Such an emphatic defeat often prompts calls for sweeping changes. This rarely happens in modern, squad-orientated international cricket, where security of tenure is so treasured. But in the South African side there are several players suddenly under severe scrutiny in a country where the supporters routinely expect victory. Ashwell Prince, JP Duminy, Paul Harris and Makhaya Ntini are all under pressure.Of these, Ntini is the likeliest to go. If that is the case, old trundlers may grump that, as usual, a bowler is the man to be dropped after a batting collapse. However, there is logic here. A bowler out of sorts provides much more evidence of a decline than a batsman out first ball like Duminy.Smith did his best to avoid giving details of how South Africa might react. He was probably still unsure in his own mind and theoretically it is the selectors, not him, who decide the next squad. He acknowledged that his batsmen had been "tentative". "They didn't commit to their shots," he said. "But the top six have been pretty solid in recent times."The bowling was poor from ball one. We bowled badly. The pressure was off them right from the start." When asked specifically about Ntini, he said: "Makhaya would be the first one to put his hand up and say he's disappointed with the way he bowled. He is experienced and has performed well in the past. We have given him support in this match and he's been an important cog in our team. We will have to look at it."It would now be a surprise if Ntini was selected for Cape Town but what to do with their iconic black African cricketer is not the only issue for the South Africans even if it is the most politically sensitive of their problems.There is also the matter of Graeme Swann. "You have to give credit for the way Swann used the conditions," said Smith. "He has been a strength in their team. He has used the angles well and created pressure behind a good pace attack".England's off-spinner has now won two consecutive man-of-the-match awards against South Africa, who will surely reassess how best to play him. Their conclusion has to be one that is not entirely comfortable for a risk-averse team. They have to attack him with far more conviction than has been displayed so far in this series.Swann has bowled beautifully, extracting far more turn than anyone anticipated at Durban. And his control has hardly wavered. He is brimful of confidence, bowling lots of overs, thereby allowing his captain to play just four bowlers without ever feeling naked.The challenge for South Africa has to be to dent that confidence by taking the attack to Swann, to see if they can make the irrepressible off-spinner bowl badly. There are risks attached to such a policy. It might end in another clutch of wickets for Swann. But it is a risk the South Africans now surely have to take. Another reason why the Cape Town Test is now such a salivating prospect.England in South Africa 2009-2010Graeme SmithSouth Africa cricket teamEngland Cricket TeamGraeme SwannCricketVic Marksguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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