Graeme Smith seeks to end South Africa’s World Cup ‘chokers’ tag

Whatever you do, don’t mention the C-word. Not around Graeme Smith. He and his South Africa team-mates have been asked about their habit of choking during major tournaments at every press conference they have attended lately. Ahead of their opening game against a dangerous West Indies team , Smith finally snapped.Pressed to explain what it was that caused his team to crack on the big occasions, the captain retorted: “So you have been out in the middle? You understand all that? Every time we walk into a press conference it’s the question we expect to get.”In 1999 South Africa suffered a calamitous run-out when they needed one run from three balls to beat Australia in the semi-final. In 2003 they misread a Duckworth-Lewis sheet when playing Sri Lanka and refused to take the run that would have put them into the Super Six stage. And in 2007 they had a collective brain freeze in another semi-final, also against Australia, and were skittled for 149.The scars do not run so deep in this squad – 11 of South Africa’s 15 have never played in a World Cup before. One of them is Imran Tahir, the Pakistan-born leg-spinner who has just qualified for the country at 31. His wrist spin will be the most telling addition to what Smith says is “the most varied attack that we have ever had We now have pace, we have bounce, we have left-armers, we have got a few spin options.”.The idea is that variety will make it difficult for the opposition to plan for what to expect when they play South Africa, who were accused of being inflexible by the Australia side who beat them in 2007. The flip side of that is that Smith is unsure what his own best XI is, especially because the pitch at the Feroz Shah Kotla has not hosted an international match since December 2009, when it was suspended from use by the International Cricket Council for being dangerous.It has since been relaid, but as Smith said: “It’s an unknown factor for all of us. We don’t really know what to expect. We have just to pick the side we think gives us the right balance.” With five seamers and five possible spinners to chose from, that will not be easy.Smith is retiring as one-day captain when this World Cup is over. So he will not have to worry about being asked that question for much longer. A good thing too, because he admits that he is “running out of answers”. Of course there is only one that will really settle the matter once and for all – Guardian