Smith upbeat despite knee surgery

Graeme Smith's knees can rightly be considered national treasures, but at the moment one of them is "up in the air" and looks like "an empty pancake" on the inside.

Smith went in for surgery on his left knee a week ago and is still hobbling around his Cape Town home, albeit without crutches. A river in flood that decided to divert itself through his property at the weekend also caused some annoyance, but the South African captain seems to be keeping his spirits up.

"At the moment it looks like I've got two knees up in the air," he joked. "I went in for a small tear in my meniscus to be fixed, but the specialist decided to do some exploratory arthroscopy while I was there and he discovered that my knee looked like an empty pancake, which showed there was another tear on the inside. So I had all the scar tissue cleaned up and then he discovered a slight tear in my cruciate ligament."

The specialist in question is Spike Erasmus, a renowned knee surgeon, and he felt Smith's cruciate ligament could be left alone for the time being as he was happy with the stability in the knee. Had the ligament been operated on, it would almost certainly have meant six months out of the game for the South African captain.

Smith will be seeing Erasmus for a follow-up examination on Wednesday but it seems unlikely that he will be able to take his team to Ireland for three one-day internationals against India at the end of June.

"Mickey Arthur's been phoning me, telling me he really wants me to go to Ireland. I haven't written that off yet, but I learnt last year not to push myself too hard coming back from injury. I killed myself to come back then and it cost me early-season form, so it was a mistake.

"I'm sure the knee will be alright by the Ireland trip, but what about my match fitness? I'm not going to come back this time until I'm 100%, not 75 or 80%," Smith insisted.

South Africa's commitments in the next 18 months include hosting the Twenty20 World Championship, tours to Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, England and Australia, as well as visits by New Zealand and West Indies and the 2008 Champions Trophy.

The hectic programme means Smith is taking no chances and a regime of physiotherapy and strengthening exercises for his quads and hamstrings is in place to make sure his knee stays in workable order.