'I've been very frustrated with my batting' - Smith

Graeme Smith, the South African captain, has admitted that South Africa are looking forward to a break after a long and gruelling season.

South Africa were whitewashed 3-0 by Australia at home after losing 2-0 in Australia. Smith struggled with the bat in both series, aggregating just 230 runs at an average of 23. He has gone 15 innings without scoring a half-century. "I've been very frustrated with my batting at the Test level," Smith told Iol.co.za. "I've scored a lot of 30s and 40s and I keep doing the hard work and then doing stupid things to get out.

"I think we're all looking forward to packing the gloves and pads away, an opportunity to reflect and look back on the season. It's been a tough one [season], in which we've learnt a lot, especially myself."

Smith scored 45 and 7 against New Zealand in the first Test at Centurion that South Africa won, and 25 in the drawn second Test at Cape Town. He didn't expect the pitch for the third Test at Wanderers to be easy to bat on. "It's obviously going to do a bit, there's a good grass covering there. As a batsman, you'll need to be really focused. It becomes very mental on wickets like these. You have to cut out certain shots and it's important not to be tentative, you tend to not move your feet and get stuck in the crease. You have to forget about what's gone past the bat."

Stephen Fleming, the New Zealand captain, said that a bowler-friendly pitch would serve New Zealand's purpose. "A pitch that doesn't offer a lot would have made it really hard for us to make up the 1-0 deficit. But we've got better through the series. I thought the bowlers' performance was really good in Cape Town, even though the figures might not show it. If they can perform in the same way up here, with that pack mentality, then hopefully they will get the figures this time."