Dead dogs and dodgy grub no excuse

The South Africans were clearly beaten by the better team in Jaipur. A sub-standard pitch was blamed for their defeat against New Zealand in a low-scorer in Mumbai, and the food and facilities were apparently not 'up to scratch' in their Jaipur hotel. The sight of Graeme Smith and his team eating cold take-aways after training was peculiar, to say the least. But were they being too fussy? Neil Manthorp finds out in Supercricket.

The fact that the hotel was an hours drive out of town, in Indian traffic containing camels, dogs, pigs and elephants as well as the usual hoard of tuk-tuks, bicycles and oblivious pedestrians deserves genuine sympathy. A journey of 15 minutes in such conditions, with the constant braking, swerving and hooting, can be as physically and mentally draining as a journey ten times as long on a South African highway