Smith has never backed down from a challenge during his international career

South Africa Test captain Graeme Smith has announced that he is accustomed to fulfilling high expectations ever since he was handed the reigns of the national team at the age of 22.

Smith noted that he liked having to fulfil these expectations every time since it provided him and his team with a challenge.

Since becoming the number one Test team after beating England over the summer, the Proteas now have a target on their backs and despite drawing the first and second Test against Australia, Smith stated that having won the third Test by 309 runs and the series 1-0 was definitely a sign that his team have the potential to hang on to the top spot for a long time.

“For us, the great thing is that there is a respect about our performance,” Smith said. “If we had travelled a few years ago and drawn a Test match anywhere else in the world people would have been raving about it.

“The disappointment in the draw is good for us. It shows that people expect us to play well and that’s exciting for us.”

Even though they are looked upon as one of the most fierce competitors in Test cricket, the story is the other way round for South Africa when it comes to the limited overs format, where they are looked down upon as jokes and chokers for constantly failing to get very far in tournaments and World Cups.

During the Test series against Australia, most of the wickets were, not surprisingly, taken by pace bowlers, but Smith mentioned that spinner Imran Tahir, who had put up some strong performances in England over the summer, was still going to be used as their frontline spinner, despite speculation that he could be dropped due to his poor showing against the Australians.

“Imran has used rough well in the time that he has played for us,” Smith added. “He created a lot of stress for Andrew Strauss and the left-handers in England and his wrong’un is also a good option.”

Smith has always credited Tahir in the past and even went as far as saying that having a wicket taking spinner in the side has given him bowling options he never had earlier on in his international career.

“Naturally, he’ll be anxious to do well, always,” Smith said. “That is his personality. But he has contributed in key ways for us over the last few Test matches and his role is important. He understands that not every surface that we have played on has offered him the world but he been able to contribute.”

When asked if all-rounder Robin Peterson would replace Tahir as the frontline spinner in the Test squad, Smith said: “Imran is the frontline spinner and we backed him.”

One man who failed to repeat his performance when playing against the Australians last year was pace bowler Vernon Philander, whose bowling seemed to be all over the place during the first Test at Brisbane.

Some people believe that Philander’s back spasms, which kept him out of the second Test at Adelaide, could have actually been a blessing in disguise since he came back with a vengeance during the third Test at Perth, where he cut through the Australian lineup with relative ease.

However, Smith believes that Philander actually bowled an excellent line and length throughout the series and added that he was unlucky not to pick up more wickets during the series.

“We didn’t have any green tracks in England and he did pretty well,” Smith said. “I’ve liked the way he looked this week, really good zip in the nets. The ball has been swinging and moving and I expect good things from him. He has got the character to bounce back. I don’t think he bowled really badly.”