Graeme Smith Hard Quotations

I think everyone who had the ball really worked hard today, I don't think the pitch provided a lot for anyone,

Credit to England - they've played hard and grafted hard for five matches and probably deserved their series win.

It's something we're pretty well prepared for now after coming off the back of the recent battles against Australia. We're tougher for the experience, we're mentally harder now and I think that will be advantageous for us if there is any silly stuff.

We are very similar and it is a very hard place to come and tour. In the past South Africa have had a big fear of failure but I think we have come to terms with that. We have come here and I know people have called us unimaginative but we are more open. We are looking forward to playing in front of Australian crowds and playing in Australia.

The teams are matched up pretty well. If anything, we need to pick it up a step in our ruthlessness on the field. We need to finish things off. We may just get a bit tense, and that comes down to inexperience, playing the best team in the world. I think 1-0 down is disappointing, but it hasn't hurt us and in a lot of ways, I'm very positive about us. As captain, I feel we're very close to hitting the mark ...and we're going to come back hard in Sydney.

The game is about creating pressure. He's probably come out ahead in this game. But the whole series, two major nations competing, we've come here and we mean business. Both teams are playing the game very hard and very tough.

Ricky seems to be more of a nice team environment, with everyone contributing. Everyone is going to do it their way. Ricky is trying too hard to find his own way of captaining.

I don't think he undermines his effectiveness but I think he puts him under a lot of pressure when it comes to decision making and maybe he doubts his own decisions sometimes because Shane is offering so much advice all the time. It's hard to sift through what is good and what is not good, at times.