Thursday 7th August 2008
Smith warns KP of hard times ahead
Graeme Smith does not believe his new captaincy rival Kevin Pietersen will feel the pressures of the job until the winter.
Pietersen leads England in a Test match for the first time on Thursday, against the country of his birth, and in doing so adds spice to his rivalry with South Africa captain Smith.
Their meeting at The Brit Oval, where South Africa will be intent on inflicting a 3-0 npower series victory, extends the bitter battle between them that began with a frank exchange of views three years ago.
Although the verbal vitriol has eased since their differing opinions on the state of South African cricket and Pietersen's exit from the system were aired, they no more than tolerate each other.
But Smith anticipates, whatever pressure is exerted on Pietersen this week, times will get tougher in the months ahead.
"He won't experience too much of the pressures right now," said Smith. "Captaincy will be about a few months' time, the next couple of series he faces.
"Then he will really understand what it's all about; running a team, getting the team to play for you. It is going to be interesting.
"He's got a once-off Test match against us, he will obviously be hugely motivated, excited, nervous and have a lot of energy in this game.
"It is easy to make one-off decisions and it doesn't really matter what happens in this Test match.
"It is six months' time when you have gone through that process, you have carried your team to that level, you have sustained the team you want to play, the brand of cricket you want to play and the management of those players.
"That's when it starts to show. So for us the best way to keep him under pressure is to beat England.
"Like we did to Michael Vaughan: we kept him on the back foot in terms of his performance and as a captain we know that pressure grows very quickly upon you."
Asked to describe his relationship with Pietersen, the man he will toss up with tomorrow morning, Smith added: "I would think there is a mutual respect in terms of performance. That's basically probably as far as it goes, I guess."
Fate has played its part in throwing Smith, 27, together with Pietersen, one year his senior.
Had Pietersen batted for another hour at Edgbaston last Friday instead of holing out attempting to bring up his hundred with a six, Vaughan might have added to his record number of 26 England victories and still been in the job.
"At the time I thought he had us on the ropes," said Smith. "We were. We weren't bowling well, there were two very lengthy sessions and he and Paul Collingwood had got England right back in the game.
"Even though they were only 140 ahead, we didn't really have any answers at that time of the game.
"That was obviously a big opening for us, and in a way we were lucky we got a lot of soft dismissals in that second innings. One thing I will say is that captaincy will make him think about that now."
Smith, who has captained his country 60 times, added: "You bump your head a lot of times as captain, I certainly bumped my head a few times as a young guy.
"It depends also how you face up to bumping your head. Do you learn from them? Take those lessons on board? Those are going to be important things for him."
South Africa, expected to be unchanged from their five-wicket victory in Birmingham, are also to be challenged by extra pace on a traditionally bouncy surface.
Durham's Steve Harmison, who last played a Test in March, is recalled at a ground where he launched his international career with a fine second-innings performance against the Proteas five years ago, while Stuart Broad returns.
"For them it is about making the decisions not only for this Test match, but about when they go to India and (for) the Ashes," Smith said.
"To pick Steve Harmison now they obviously have a plan for him to play in the next Ashes series - at least I hope that's what they would be thinking.
"They have picked a little bit more of an aggressive team. It does leave certain openings if we can play good cricket here and again it will be about the first couple of days.
"England are going to come back fighting, they will want to put in one good game for the series.
"If we can play well for the first couple of days, maybe we can suck the wind out of their sails and finish things off in a wonderful way."
