Graeme Smith Says Less, Proteas Win More

Two years ago the Proteas went down under expecting huge things. They were up against a team that included Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Justin Langer, and Damien Martyn.The Australians had lost the Ashes against England and so seemed to be quite vulnerable at the time.

Leading up to the series, many words were exchanged between Graeme Smith and Ricky Ponting and also with Warne. Smith even going as far as to say that Warne was frustrated at the fact that he was not the captain of the Australians.

South Africa managed to salvage a draw in the first test thanks to a brilliant and brave century by Jacques Rudolph but were then beaten in all five of the tests that followed.

Smith's reason for the exchanging of words was that he wanted to shift media attention away from the team. Smith's inexperience at the time was certainly a factor in his talk.

Leading up to the current test series Smith has said...well, nothing.

There have been no "kind" exchanging of words on other players and their has been no banter whatsoever from the mouth of Smith.

So, what does this tell us?

It tells us that Smith is far more experienced as captain this time around as because he has had nothing to say, the media has not really had anything to write about that would put pressure on the Proteas to perform.

Last time around all of Smith's pre-match talk caused his own personal performances to stutter and he was not able to conjure up many runs at all. This time around Smith has spoken less and he has scored more. He made 48 in the first innings at Perth and 108 in the second to highlight his new found form against Australia.

The Proteas won the first test by chasing down 414. An amazing feat that eclipses India's recent chase of 387 against England a few days ago.

So, what lessons have the Proteas, particularly Smith, learned?

They now know that the less said, the better. they know that belittling the other teams players only makes that team more determined to win and they know now that with the media off their shoulders their is less pressure on them to perform, which they have been doing.