Do it all Oval again

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LEEDS, ENGLAND - AUGUST 02: Graeme Smith of South Africa bats during day one of the 2nd Investec Test match between England and South Africa at Headingley on August 2, 2012 in Leeds, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

Stuart Hess

in London

THE Proteas are looking for a repeat of their Oval victory as they attempt to wrap up the Test series against England at Lord’s.

It was a big task to repeat their Oval innings victory at Headingley, and Graeme Smith’s description of the bowling as inconsistent and the fact that there were areas that needed improving, pointed to South Africa wanting to maintain high standards.

Asked about the areas he believed could be improved from the Headingley Test, coach Gary Kirsten said: “To have another Oval Test would be fairly nice.

“We are fully aware that it doesn’t always happen like that. The mark of a champion team is to not play that well and to still come through.

SAs working with Imran Tahir to stop him bowling no-balls

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“You are not going to get everything stacked up perfectly, that is not the way the game is made. We would love every bowler to be firing and to have their rhythm right. It’s not always going to happen like that. [In the] same way we want every batsmen to make big scores, but it’s not going to happen.

“We have to make it work in field time and in game time. There has been a great improvement with this team with regard to that.

“We can make things happen. If we’re not having a good session we can turn it around and the team takes a lot of pride in being able to do that, it’s one of our strengths.”

That will be the areas the Proteas will be looking at this week – not to the opposition, who have been swept up in a KP whirlwind, and not to their excellent post-isolation record at Lord’s, which reads played four, won three, drawn one.

Nor to a tendency on all those previous tours to lose the final Test of the series. “There is no point in focusing on the past. The only learning you can take out of the past is a particular wicket that has a certain character to it. Test matches are so different these days, you don’t have trends that unfold in a Test match. We won’t focus on negative things like that, we’d rather stay in a positive space.”

It’s the same with their record at Lord’s. “To say we’ve had success in the past doesn’t guarantee success now,” Kirsten added.

Besides injuries to Alviro Petersen, Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith – all of whom are either fit or close to full fitness – the only concern to emerge from the Headingley Test was Imran Tahir’s no-balls – 16 so far. “We bowled far too many no-balls in both Tests,” said Kirsten. “We are doing what we can to sort it out for him, he gets irritated and frustrated by it.”

Kirsten explained that there could be several reasons for the problem suddenly cropping up.

“It could be over-exuberance, it could be wanting to get more energy on the ball, we’ll have it sorted out.”

Lord’s certainly didn’t look at its most attractive yesterday. The outfield still has ugly markings from when the temporary stands were erected there for the Olympic archery event.

It shouldn’t have any effect on the roll of the ball, but with further trimming tomorrow, the MCC, some of whose members weren’t happy with the Olympics taking over the ground, not to mention Coca-Cola placing a vending machine in the Long Room, will hope that the venue resembles the ground they know and love.

The South Africans are unfazed.

“If you want to be the best cricket team in the world, you must be able to adapt to any conditions. We certainly won’t be focusing on or worrying about the wicket, we have to play with what we’ve got and adapt to those conditions,” said Kirsten.

The pitch was not affected by the archery event.

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