Coach not worried about Smith

Cape Town - Proteas coach Russell Domingo believes skipper Graeme Smith will break his run-scoring drought in the final Test against Australia.

Smith registered scores of 10, 4, 9 and 14 in the first two Tests heading into the final Test starting at Newlands on Saturday.

Smith has been out three times to left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Johnson, who has now dismissed him eight times in 10 Tests.

However, it is seldom that the skipper fails to perform over a whole series and he had done fairly decently in the earlier part of the season.

The 33-year-old “Biff”, remember, was going along just fine in early-season Test combat for South Africa, leading up to this particular series.

He had scored his fifth career double century (234) in the second Test against Pakistan in Dubai - a typical backs-to-the-wall marathon knock by Smith as the Proteas struck back to win that encounter and share the mini-series 1-1 after a humbling in Abu Dhabi.

The similarly short home series against India, won 1-0 by his team, also went well personally as he recorded 186 runs at an average of 62.

"Graeme's performance list speaks for itself," Domingo told the Beeld website.

"It seldom happens that Graeme does not contribute in a series, with the bat I mean. He always makes a massive contribution as a leader.

"I'm definitely not worried about his form. He looks as though he's on song. He's just losing his wicket in strange ways."