Published: Oct 31, 2016, 03:28 PM (IST)
Edited: Oct 31, 2016, 03:33 PM (IST)
As South Africa prepare to face Australia down under, team’s bowling spearhead Dale Steyn said South Africa will target the leader of the opponent, Steven Smith to take them down. Australia, who are coming from a 3-0 defeat to Sri Lanka, will be eager to win the series and reinstate themselves as the leading powers in the longest format. On the other hand are South Africa, who will be confident coming from a successful encounter against New Zealand at home in their latest Test series. Steyn, who was among the curators of the Proteas’ Kiwi-taming, has revealed that his team will follow their tradition and look to attack the mastermind, the Aussie skipper in order to win the series comfortably. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Australia vs South Africa, 1st Test at Perth
Talking to espncricinfo.com, Steyn said, “If you can cut off the head of the snake, the rest of the body tends to fall. We’ve done that in the past. We’ve tried to attack the captain because he is the leader and if we can cause a bit of chaos there, sometimes it does affect the rest of the guys. Aussie captains lead the attack. From history, you look at guys that are great players like Steve Waugh, he stands out. I don’t think many people can name a team underneath him but you remember Steve Waugh.
“You can remember Ricky Ponting, and Michael Clarke and then Steven Smith falls into that bracket. The moment you can get hold of your captain, the rest of the players rely heavily on him. He leads the ship so when you pull the plug on that kind of ship, and he’s holding it, you can sink it. It’s not very easy but there’s a way to sink it.”
Steyn also spoke about Australia’s back to back defeats against Sri Lanka in Tests and South Africa in ODIs.
“They are probably a little bit hurt after Sri Lanka and especially after coming to South Africa and losing 5-nil.”
He also spoke about the indomitable Aussie spirit.
“When it comes to being on top of the Australians, you never quite feel like that. Even if you’ve beaten them for 365 days in a row, come the 1st of January the next year, they are up for it. But the mood in the camp is really good. The guys are comfortable, we’ve been here for almost two weeks,” said the pacer.
Australia will host South Africa in three Tests starting from November 3 this year.
