Smith won’t fall for Aussie hype

BASSETERRE – South African captain Graeme Smith refused to be drawn into a slanging match with Australia, claiming his focus is on playing the Netherlands and Scotland before facing the world champions.

“Our key focus has been on getting all the areas of our game right. We have two games to go before taking on Australia,” said Smith ahead of his team’s opening Group A clash against the Dutch today.Australian paceman Glenn McGrath claimed yesterday that South Africa, who deposed defending champions Australia from the world top ranking spot recently, can’t handle pressure.The two sides meet here on March 24 in what will be a highly charged game with the winner taking two extra points with them into the second round Super Eights.Smith said he was surprised at the timing of McGrath’s outburst.”We were surprised nothing came from Glenn earlier.From our point of view it really means nothing.We’ve handled pressure better than Australia of late in big games, so I guess it’s just another drop in the ocean,” said the captain.South Africa were out of sorts in their warm-up matches, losing to Pakistan by seven wickets after struggling to a narrow win over outsiders Ireland.However, Smith felt his side has the quality to bounce back.”We know if we perform we have got the players and the team and the passion to perform well over here.That’s our focus at the moment.We haven’t really taken too much notice of what’s been going on around us.”We will see when we get to Australia – we’ve got two games before that.”Paceman Makhaya Ntini joined the team late Wednesday after attending the birth of his daughter back home.”I think we will play with the best eleven.Of course, Ntini needs time to find his feet and will play the second match against Scotland before the match against Australia,” said Smith.The South African skipper criticised the facilities during the warm-up matches at Port of Spain where his team’s top-order struggled.”The facilities in Trinidad were poor but here the pitch looks pretty good.I watched the last 12 overs of the Australian innings (against Scotland on Wednesday) and it looks pretty good.Smith said his team has watched some of the footage of the Dutch and Scottish teams and would be ready for both sides.The Netherlands lost their warm-up matches against India and Kenya but believe they found some positive points.Their the South African-born all-rounder Ryan ten Doeschate took five wickets and can exploits any Proteas’ batting problems.Doeschate is the only one of the 15-man squad who plays first class cricket.He plays with English county Essex.The Netherlands earned their third chance to play in the World Cup after beating the United Arab Emirates to finish fifth in the ICC (International Cricket Council) Trophy in 2005.Nampa-AFPWe have two games to go before taking on Australia,” said Smith ahead of his team’s opening Group A clash against the Dutch today.Australian paceman Glenn McGrath claimed yesterday that South Africa, who deposed defending champions Australia from the world top ranking spot recently, can’t handle pressure.The two sides meet here on March 24 in what will be a highly charged game with the winner taking two extra points with them into the second round Super Eights.Smith said he was surprised at the timing of McGrath’s outburst.”We were surprised nothing came from Glenn earlier.From our point of view it really means nothing.We’ve handled pressure better than Australia of late in big games, so I guess it’s just another drop in the ocean,” said the captain.South Africa were out of sorts in their warm-up matches, losing to Pakistan by seven wickets after struggling to a narrow win over outsiders Ireland.However, Smith felt his side has the quality to bounce back.”We know if we perform we have got the players and the team and the passion to perform well over here.That’s our focus at the moment.We haven’t really taken too much notice of what’s been going on around us.”We will see when we get to Australia – we’ve got two games before that.”Paceman Makhaya Ntini joined the team late Wednesday after attending the birth of his daughter back home.”I think we will play with the best eleven.Of course, Ntini needs time to find his feet and will play the second match against Scotland before the match against Australia,” said Smith.The South African skipper criticised the facilities during the warm-up matches at Port of Spain where his team’s top-order struggled.”The facilities in Trinidad were poor but here the pitch looks pretty good.I watched the last 12 overs of the Australian innings (against Scotland on Wednesday) and it looks pretty good.Smith said his team has watched some of the footage of the Dutch and Scottish teams and would be ready for both sides.The Netherlands lost their warm-up matches against India and Kenya but believe they found some positive points.Their the South African-born all-rounder Ryan ten Doeschate took five wickets and can exploits any Proteas’ batting problems.Doeschate is the only one of the 15-man squad who plays first class cricket.He plays with English county Essex.The Netherlands earned their third chance to play in the World Cup after beating the United Arab Emirates to finish fifth in the ICC (International Cricket Council) Trophy in 2005.Nampa-AFP