Smith vows to carry on as normal

Graeme Smith has insisted that he and his team will be concentrating on the cricket, rather than the security concerns which have already overshadowed and disrupted South Africa's tour of Pakistan.

"From our first practice today, we are going to focus on cricket and how to beat Pakistan," Smith said in a news conference after touching down in Lahore. "The rest of the stuff will take care of itself because there are people to look after that off the field."

The South African board initially cancelled the tour following a bomb-blast in Karachi on Sept 19, but the tour was later rescheduled with Karachi and Peshawar dumped from the itinerary because of security worries.

"I am not afraid of Pakistanis, but I am afraid of the bombs," Smith admitted, but denied that the board put pressure on the players to go. "They [the UCB] explained everything to us and we are aware of everything that has gone on. We are the first big nation in a long time [to visit Pakistan]. We are not going to leave here disappointed."

Smith also said he wasn't surprised to see a dozen commandos at Lahore's airport cordoning off the terminal when they touched down. "We were well prepared, so it didn't come as a huge surprise. It didn't bother us too much."

South Africa play a one-day warm-up game against a local City Nazim XI on Wednesday before the first one-day international in Lahore on Friday.