Wanted! Spinner for South Africa

GROS ISLET – South Africa captain Graeme Smith admitted yesterday that he desperately needs a top class spinner if the Proteas are ever to win a World Cup.

His plea came after watching his team crumble to a seven-wicket defeat to Australia in the semi-finals after being bowled out for 149, their lowest ever score in the World Cup. But it’s the bowling make-up which concerns Smith more as time and time again throughout the Caribbean tournament, his attack was made to look ordinary with its steady diet of identical medium-pace.”I think one of our challenges is to find a spinner, a spinner who can help us going forward.Australia have one and so do Sri Lanka.That is one facet of our game we always talk about,” he said.Smith’s admission will have done little for the brittle confidence of specialist left-arm spinner Robin Peterson who played just two games in the World Cup for a one-wicket reward.”Certainly with the quality of cricket we have back home, we should be able to find someone and if we do, it will change our cricket in future.”Smith said he didn’t think wholesale rebuilding was required after bowing out of the tournament.”There’ll be a quite a few guys who will be around and some new guys will come and we will be stronger.But I don’t think Shaun Pollock will be around in the next World Cup,” he said of the former skipper who will be 38 by the time the 2011 tournament rolls around.Meanwhile, Smith said he does not believe his side choked in Wednesday’s semi-final defeat.”We weren’t good enough on the field and were outplayed and you have to give them credit.You choke when you get a chance to win a match and then throw it away by not playing well.”South Africa had earned the dubious ‘chokers’ tag after losing close matches, including the tied semi-final against Australia in the 1999 edition in England.On Wednesday, Australia comfortably surpassed South Africa’s total, winning with more than 18 overs to spare to make their fourth successive appearance in the Cup final.They will clash with Sri Lanka in the final in Barbados on Saturday.Smith conceded it was the combination of bad shots by his top-order batsmen and good pace bowling by Australia that led to his team’s defeat.”I think our top order had played pretty positive in this tournament.We’ve been quite aggressive throughout and we felt that we could be quite aggressive upfront today.”The ball did swing in the beginning, but once you were three down it really became very difficult to wrest back the initiative.With Shaun Tait coming first change, and he is a strike bowler, it does make life a bit difficult.”Nampa-AFPBut it’s the bowling make-up which concerns Smith more as time and time again throughout the Caribbean tournament, his attack was made to look ordinary with its steady diet of identical medium-pace.”I think one of our challenges is to find a spinner, a spinner who can help us going forward.Australia have one and so do Sri Lanka.That is one facet of our game we always talk about,” he said.Smith’s admission will have done little for the brittle confidence of specialist left-arm spinner Robin Peterson who played just two games in the World Cup for a one-wicket reward.”Certainly with the quality of cricket we have back home, we should be able to find someone and if we do, it will change our cricket in future.”Smith said he didn’t think wholesale rebuilding was required after bowing out of the tournament.”There’ll be a quite a few guys who will be around and some new guys will come and we will be stronger.But I don’t think Shaun Pollock will be around in the next World Cup,” he said of the former skipper who will be 38 by the time the 2011 tournament rolls around.Meanwhile, Smith said he does not believe his side choked in Wednesday’s semi-final defeat.”We weren’t good enough on the field and were outplayed and you have to give them credit.You choke when you get a chance to win a match and then throw it away by not playing well.”South Africa had earned the dubious ‘chokers’ tag after losing close matches, including the tied semi-final against Australia in the 1999 edition in England.On Wednesday, Australia comfortably surpassed South Africa’s total, winning with more than 18 overs to spare to make their fourth successive appearance in the Cup final.They will clash with Sri Lanka in the final in Barbados on Saturday.Smith conceded it was the combination of bad shots by his top-order batsmen and good pace bowling by Australia that led to his team’s defeat.”I think our top order had played pretty positive in this tournament.We’ve been quite aggressive throughout and we felt that we could be quite aggressive upfront today.”The ball did swing in the beginning, but once you were three down it really became very difficult to wrest back the initiative.With Shaun Tait coming first change, and he is a strike bowler, it does make life a bit difficult.”Nampa-AFP