Smith blames defeat on poor basics
By Edison Jefford
Stabroek News
April 9, 2007
"They played well, our basics were very poor today, once you don't get your basics right its going to cost you," South African captain Graeme Smith said Saturday at the post-match press conference following his team's defeat to Bangladesh.
Smith, speaking to the local and international media at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence, admitted that Bangladesh had outplayed the International Cricket Council (ICC) number-one ranked team. "We just got to take our loss today. We have been beaten. This is a big loss for us and we are disappointed. We didn't get our basics right today, we didn't play any kind of cricket and it's hard to take a positive out of any facet of the game today," he said.
Bangladesh tied a noose around the necks of the South African batsmen, stifling any fluent run-scoring opportunity and the South Africans were eventually bowled out for 184 needing 252 to win.
"It's one of those days that you can't come up with the right things to say. We just got to regroup. It's going to be a disappointing night tonight but we will get ourselves up tomorrow and ensure that we are ready for Tuesday," Smith noted.
The South African captain said that the team has to forget the loss, however, and focus on the tough challenge ahead, which involves playing West Indies tomorrow and England and New Zealand in their three remaining Super Eight matches. Asked about the team's approach for their upcoming matches, Smith said that regrouping was foremost for the team. "There are three big games ahead of us, they are three big games and it's important that we regroup.
Tomorrow we will get together, talk about a few things, and get ready for the West Indies game, which is always an important game," he said.
"They are things we need to look at before the West Indies. It's just that you got put these things behind you and move forward, pick the pieces up and learn some lessons.
Smith expressed the team's disappointment at not taking the opportunity to get two more points that would have allowed them to join Australia and Sri Lanka on top of the points table with six points each.
He said that Bangladesh took every opportunity given to them on the field. According to Smith, one can ill afford to give Bangladesh any openings since the team has the ability to apply pressure on 'big' teams.
"They seized every opportunity, they are a team that if you give them a little opening they can seize it and put you under pressure. We had our game plan and probably put one or two chances down," Smith said.
The South Africans left Guyana yesterday for Grenada for the second phase of their Super Eight campaign.