Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis talk to the press after their crushing win over India in the second ODI

Dileep Premachandran at Durban22-Nov-2006

‘Jacques played superbly, and there were some good knocks aroundhim’ © Getty Images
He may not enjoy the iconic status that an Andrew Flintoff does, but noone in these parts doubts the qualities that Jacques Kallis brings to thisSouth African side. His 119 spanned 160 balls, and was the slowest evermade by a South African in ODIs, but it was 28 more than India’s battingline-up made on a pitch that was nowhere near as menacing as Kingsmead canbe at times.Kallis assessed the conditions beautifully, playing some magnificentdrives early in his innings before settling down to shepherd the middleand lower order right to the end. “It was one of those wickets where therewas a lot of bounce,” he said, soon after picking up the Man-of-the-matchaward. “It wasn’t a free-scoring wicket. It just needed someone to batthrough the innings, and for others to bat around him. There was a periodin the middle when we could have picked it up a little bit more but myexperience told me to just hang in there. I realised that 250 was a verygood score.”India had done well to reduce South Africa to 63 for 3, but Kallis and ABde Villiers regained the initiative with a steady 87-run partnership thatlaid the platform for a solid total. “They all bowled well on a wicketthat was more bowler-friendly than some we’ve played on,” said Kallis. “Asa unit, they bowled pretty well. But maybe they were one bowler short.They made it difficult for us to score, especially in the middle period.”Graeme Smith, who departed early, leg before to Zaheer Khan, was delightedwith the result, saying that he was fairly confident once the runs hadbeen put on the board. “We knew the wicket would bounce. We were happywith 250. At times, we were a bit rusty and on another day, we could havegot 270. Jacques played superbly, and there were some good knocks aroundhim.”India’s response saw them collapse from a relatively healthy 62 for 2 to91 all out, with the exits of Dravid and Tendulkar heralding a depressingcollapse. “They didn’t start that badly,” said Smith. “We had them twodown early on, but they were pretty solid up to a point. I thought AndreNel’s spell was superb. He hit really great areas at pace and bowled witha lot of aggression. We knew that if we could get them three or four down,we could get stuck into the middle order.”The middle order subsided in embarrassing fashion, and Smith admitted thatinexperience may have played a part. “They’ve got experience at the top ofthe order with Tendulkar and Dravid,” he said. “Kaif has been around for along time. Maybe in the middle order, they’re a little bit inexperienced.This is Dhoni’s first tour out of the subcontinent, apart from theCaribbean. For him, it’s going to be a big challenge in these conditions.We just bowled really well tonight, and our energy in the field wasgreat.”He was adamant though that South Africa wouldn’t be looking at India as atwo-batsman team, even though the onus is clearly on Tendulkar and Dravidto deliver big runs. “In any team, you have a couple of guys who’ve beenaround a long time and have records behind them,” he said. “The young guyshave to take the responsibility and perform. We concentrate against everybatter. Obviously, the guys with records behind them are going to be morecrucial wickets.”Though Makhaya Ntini went wicketless and Charl Langeveldt went for a few,Smith was delighted with the collective effort in the field. When askedhow this fast-bowling quintet shaped up against their predecessors, hesaid: “I wouldn’t like to compare them to the past. I think this is a newera and these guys are setting their own standards. We’re proud of thepast, but this team wants to have its own style and create our ownrecords.”South Africa experienced a similar low recently, when they were thrashedby New Zealand on a pitch of questionable quality during the ChampionsTrophy, and Smith, who chuckled when asked what advice he would give theIndians, said that he had been delighted at the manner in which theybounced back from that. “For us, it was about stepping up our work-rate attraining and asking the guys to raise their levels,” he said. “I know whatwe’re capable of. The guys have proven that to me and everyone else inone-day cricket over the last two years. I don’t know how Rahul will workwith the Indian team. I don’t know their dynamics.”With both teams still feeling their way into a pivotal season thatclimaxes with the World Cup, Smith was clearly jubilant about the firststeps taken on home turf. “I think we were very good as a unit,” he said.”The batting was rusty in some areas. Game time is needed. We feel likewe’ve gone from net to net to net. We need time in the middle. As a team,we’re working well together and we’re happy. We’ve moved away from thefear of failure.”It’s a fear that will be uppermost in many Indian minds after a lamentabledefeat.