Cricket
Smith mobbed at airport
2009-01-08 18:41
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Graeme Smith returns to SA (Gallo Images)
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Johannesburg - Proteas captain Graeme Smith was greeted by hundreds excited cricket fans when he arrived at OR Tambo Airport on Thursday afternoon, a day after his heroic attempt to save the third Test against Australia in Sydney.
With his left hand in a plaster cast, and looking tired but smiling happily, Smith was mobbed by people wanting to congratulate him on becoming the first South African cricket captain to win a Test series in Australia.
“Seeing those people at the Airport was awesome,” said Smith. “For a cricketer, beating Australia in a Test series in Australia – it doesn’t come much bigger than that. It’s something we feel very privileged about, and we’re grateful we can share it with the people in South Africa. We have had incredible support from people back home – messages, emails, sms messages – it has been wonderful and very humbling.”
South Africa fought back brilliantly in all three Tests, winning the first two and narrowly losing the third, but Smith said he thought the first fight back, in Perth, was probably the most significant.
“We needed to get off to a good start and win that first Test,” he said. “It was important to get a really good spell under our belts. When Mitchell (Johnson) bowled that spell and took those wickets late in the evening, we were really on the back foot. It was crucial as a team that we really put our peg in the ground and showed a lot of character. With the ball, we came out there, and the bowlers led from the front, and the fielding was good, the catching was good, and we really showed Australia on that day that we weren’t going to go away.
“So I think chasing 414 really started on that day when we really rocked up on Day Three, and I think we gained a lot of confidence from those days. And then to chase 414, that was great. And as a captain, to see young guys like AB (De Villiers) and JP (Duminy) in the toughest environment that there is, playing a really tough team – to see the young boys really stand up and win you a game, that was really special.”
Smith said he expected the return series in South Africa to be equally hard fought. “Australia are hurting, and they are going to come back hard at us,” he said. “I imagine Stuart Clark will be back, and they always have a very strong batting line-up.
“We are going to need our guys to be fresh, and so we are going to have to manage our bowlers during the one-day series in Australia.
“We know that with Australia you have to earn every inch, and I think they have a lot of respect for us now. They know we never went away, and we pushed them all the way. I am really looking forward to being involved in the Test series back home.” Smith said he would be seeing a surgeon on Saturday to discuss the chronic tennis elbow that has plagued him for some time.
“It is really a matter of resting it, and then finding a window of eight to 12 weeks so that I can have surgery. In the meantime, we will just be treating it and keeping it manageable. I had my first blood injection earlier this week, and will have the next in six weeks time.”