Smith 'sad' at Vaughan exit

Proteas looking to finish series with third straight win over England

Last updated: 6th August 2008

Graeme Smith South Africa v England 2nd Test Jul 08

Smith: Ready for Harmison

There's a lot of people back home who feel quite strongly about the fact he's captain. I'm sure there are a lot of English people who feel the same way. But our job is to be professional, take our emotions to one side and focus on the cricket

Graeme Smith
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South Africa skipper Graeme Smith is ready to lock horns with new England captain Kevin Pietersen and says he felt "sad" at seeing Michael Vaughan step down.

Already certain of winning the series, the Proteas go into the fourth Test at The Brit Oval looking for a third straight win over their hosts.

They will come up against opponents now under the leadership of South African-born batsman Pietersen, who has taken over following Vaughan's resignation on Sunday.

It is the second time Smith has seen off an England skipper - Nasser Hussain quit after the first Test of the 2003 series - and he admitted that he fully understood what Vaughan was talking about during his press conference.

Wonderful leader

"I felt sad for Vaughany," Smith told Sky Sports. "He certainly was a wonderful leader for England.

"I can certainly sympathise with Michael. When Nasser resigned I was 22, just going into the captaincy, very naive and nervous about my own tenure.

"Having been in the job for four or five years now, a lot of what he said resonated with me. It was sad to see a man of his stature go.

"I think that we've seen all the build up to KP and it'll be interesting to see how he handles the job over a period of time. The England captaincy is an important voice in world cricket and Michael always handled himself very well.

"He (Pietersen) has certainly going to have to be a lot more aware of the things he does and what he says. You've got to give him the chance to do that, it's not my job to judge him now.

"There's a lot of people back home who feel quite strongly about the fact he's captain. I'm sure there are a lot of English people who feel the same way. But our job is to be professional, take our emotions to one side and focus on the cricket."

Known for his attacking instincts as a batsman, Pietersen seems to have taken the same positive policy into team selection, picking five frontline bowlers for his debut Test in charge.

The decision not to replace the departed Vaughan with another batter means a recall for Steve Harmison, who has been in impressive form for Durham this summer.

Aggressive

"It's obviously something new for us to think about," Smith said on the returning Harmison.

"England have gone with a slightly aggressive team. I think the workload their bowlers have had throughout the series has had a role in that.

"He (Harmison) is a guy that you have to always be aware of. When he gets it right he is certainly a handful for any batter.

"The fact that England have picked him shows he must be in their long-term plans. If you are going to pick a guy like Steve you must see a future going forward to India and the Ashes series."

While England are entering a new era South Africa are just looking to continue where they left off in Birmingham, with Smith determined to end the series in style.

The left-handed opener added: "The last couple of days have been a massive high for all of us. I said to the guys that we now have to get our feet back on the ground and concentrate on the job in hand at the Oval.

"When we're holding that trophy up at the end of the five days we'd love to have a third Test win and make that trophy worthwhile."