June 28, 2003	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 27,1424

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LONDON, June 27: South Africa captain Graeme Smith believes his side should be far too strong for England when the sides meet in the second match of a triangular series at The Oval on Saturday.

“We’re well prepared as a team and as individuals and if we play to our potential tomorrow we can really dominate,” he said.

“We’ve got the players to do that and we’ve got the team to do that if we relax and play our natural game.”

South Africa were knocked out in the first round at the World Cup earlier this year but are still ranked the second best one-day side in the game behind world champions Australia.

England, fresh from beating Pakistan 2-1 in a three-match home series, slumped to a surprise defeat to lowly Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge on Thursday in the first game of the tournament.

Smith said the result had not affected South Africa’s preparations but added the desire to atone for their World Cup debacle would make his side hard to beat.

“Public expectation (in South Africa) after what happened at the World Cup is really high — myself and the team realise that we owe the public a lot,” Smith said at a media conference at The Oval on Friday.

“We’ve been working really hard on little things to give them something to shout about.”

Immediately after Saturday’s match, South Africa travel to Canterbury to play Zimbabwe on Sunday.

“To be honest we’re not very happy about it,” Smith added.

“It’s not ideal to play a game and then travel two hours and play the next day. But as a team we’ve put that to one side and we know we’ve got to go out there and win two games.

“It’s up to us and our medical team to make sure we recover in time.”

At 22, Smith is the youngest man to have captained South Africa and he agreed that his first game against England would be the first serious test of his leadership.

“Definitely. We played against India and Bangladesh in a one-day series but tomorrow is a big test, not only for me but for the team. We’ve played some really decent cricket on tour so far and it’s up to us now to go and put it together at international level.

“There’s pressure on every player and there’s more pressure on the captain to make decisions. You’ve got to find your own ways of dealing with it. I don’t know yet what mine will be but I’m pretty relaxed.”

Meanwhile, moving down the order may be an option for Michael Vaughan should he be unable to get rid of the poor batting form which has hampered him since he took on the captaincy of England’s one-day side.

The Yorkshire batsman has struggled to repeat his incredible winter form against Australia since the start of this season and is yet to reach 30 for England this summer after two Tests and four One-day Internationals.

It has prompted speculation that England may consider either moving him up to an opening position alongside Test partner Marcus Trescothick or dropping him down the order to strengthen an area which has shown signs of weakness against Pakistan and Zimbabwe.

Vaughan insists there is nothing wrong with his form and is confident of making a major contribution with the bat sooner rather than later.

But he has admitted that if the run continues he may consider discussing the situation with coach Duncan Fletcher to determine whether a move away from the number three position will benefit both himself and the team.

Asked whether he would move down the order, Vaughan replied: “I’ll discuss that with the coach and maybe that could be an option.

“It’s very disappointing that I’m not in there and scoring a lot of runs, but I feel I’m hitting the ball OK and I’m just making that one little mistake and it’s costing me my wicket at the minute.”

Fletcher, meanwhile, ruled out a quick return for Graham Thorpe despite the team’s continuing mid-innings troubles.

Surrey left-hander Thorpe, 33, has been out of international action for a year because of personal problems but has said he is available again.

Thorpe is renowned as the one of the best middle-order batsmen in world cricket and especially adept at keeping an innings ticking over.

But without him England, 50 for one off nine overs, were restricted to 191 for eight on the way to a four-wicket defeat against Zimbabwe.

Both James Troughton (26 runs in three innings during England’s 2-1 one-day series win over Pakistan) and Robert Key, who made a sluggish 11 on his One-day International debut at Trent Bridge, have been tried in Thorpe’s number four spot.

However, despite their failures, Fletcher said he was ready to stand by the younger men following England’s middle-order slumps.

“It’s nice to have experience. But do you go back to picking the best players or do you prefer the young guys who you hope will be around in four years’ time at the World Cup?,” Fletcher asked.

But he admitted his fledglings had “got to learn quickly”. He added: “You can’t excuse us for not making enough runs. We should have got to a minimum 220, 230.

“At this level you’ve got to utilise the 15th to 35th overs,” former Zimbabwe captain Fletcher added.

“You’ve got to figure out ways to score in these overs. At the end of the day it’s all about ones and twos, risk management, the situation of the game and what shots are required.”—Reuters/AFP