<p>South African skipper Graeme Smith on Tuesday said the hosts were ready for the second Test Durban despite playing an emotional and physically draining first Test at the Wanderers a couple of days ago. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Excerpts from his media interaction:<br /><br />On conditions being different in Durban: I think the Wanderers wicket has been a result wicket. Generally, it's been a tougher place to bat. Let me just say up front that we haven’t had the best record in Durban over a period of time and we're looking forward to the opportunity to put that right now. I think one of the reasons why is that because we haven’t adapted to the surface as well and I thin we've had good discussions over that now.<br /><br />Having said that, it's a surface that can change every day. Stats do say that day two is maybe a more difficult day to bat than day one. Kingsmead can get hot, it can get flat and then there are times it can do a bit. It's just about reading those moments of the game well.On the possible absence of Morne Morkel: We've been really fortunate over the last period of time that we haven’t had too many, touchwood, serious injuries to our frontline seamers. I think a decision will be made about Morne later, so there's still hope that he'll come through.<br /><br />But outside that, we've seen performances from guys that have been in and around the squad. Guys like Kyle (Abbot), that has come in for cover for him, he's played a one-off Test match and played very well. Rory Kleinveldt has been around the squad for a period of time, had a taste of international cricket at its toughest in Australia. So I feel we have enough bases covered to hopefully still be effective even if he's not fit.<br /><br />On being mentally ready for the second Test: I'm actually looking forward to it, the stop-start nature of our Test summer has made it difficult to keep starting again. I think certainly having played a Test match like that, all of us now are looking forward to taking the next step again.<br /><br />On the importance of opening partnership: I think the top three in any Test line-up play a crucial role. I think if you go back generations you'll see there's no successful team without a top three...guys who can put in performances and set games up. It's important that we do the hard yards for them (middle-order). From my perspective, it's great to see Alviro play well. I think it's 20-odd Test matches we've now been together and we'd love to carry that on.</p>
<p>South African skipper Graeme Smith on Tuesday said the hosts were ready for the second Test Durban despite playing an emotional and physically draining first Test at the Wanderers a couple of days ago. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Excerpts from his media interaction:<br /><br />On conditions being different in Durban: I think the Wanderers wicket has been a result wicket. Generally, it's been a tougher place to bat. Let me just say up front that we haven’t had the best record in Durban over a period of time and we're looking forward to the opportunity to put that right now. I think one of the reasons why is that because we haven’t adapted to the surface as well and I thin we've had good discussions over that now.<br /><br />Having said that, it's a surface that can change every day. Stats do say that day two is maybe a more difficult day to bat than day one. Kingsmead can get hot, it can get flat and then there are times it can do a bit. It's just about reading those moments of the game well.On the possible absence of Morne Morkel: We've been really fortunate over the last period of time that we haven’t had too many, touchwood, serious injuries to our frontline seamers. I think a decision will be made about Morne later, so there's still hope that he'll come through.<br /><br />But outside that, we've seen performances from guys that have been in and around the squad. Guys like Kyle (Abbot), that has come in for cover for him, he's played a one-off Test match and played very well. Rory Kleinveldt has been around the squad for a period of time, had a taste of international cricket at its toughest in Australia. So I feel we have enough bases covered to hopefully still be effective even if he's not fit.<br /><br />On being mentally ready for the second Test: I'm actually looking forward to it, the stop-start nature of our Test summer has made it difficult to keep starting again. I think certainly having played a Test match like that, all of us now are looking forward to taking the next step again.<br /><br />On the importance of opening partnership: I think the top three in any Test line-up play a crucial role. I think if you go back generations you'll see there's no successful team without a top three...guys who can put in performances and set games up. It's important that we do the hard yards for them (middle-order). From my perspective, it's great to see Alviro play well. I think it's 20-odd Test matches we've now been together and we'd love to carry that on.</p>
