Smith: Decision in best interest of the team

how in the rarse the Saffies did not win that game.  well i never.....

that idiot smith have a tendency to make really stupid decisions like when he decared and lost against the OZ

Smith gets away with it because he is white.  the media would kill him were he a coloured captain..or an english captain.

whatever their colour they like to kill english captains ::LOL:: ::LOL:: ::LOL:: ::LOL::

What a shit comment. Smith is copping a LOT of flak for this. And I don't even know why, it was not his decision. I feel really bad for the guy. To say that he "got away with it" is just WTF comment.

I don't mind pointing out media's biases against people of color, but this is just dire to look for non-existent biases.

Also I find it bizarre that people just are looking this in retrospect.
Pitch was still behaving oddly. India bowled fairly dire, and AB and Faf batted BRILLIANTLY. When Faf went for that stupid run and got out, for me that was a reasonable course. Imran Tahir is a mug with the bat. And Morkel could barely stand up. So had one of Philander or Steyn gotten out, might as well be curtains for SA.

How about giving them some fucking credit for fighting it out and drawing the match?

Smith  by his Apartheid inheritance is a coward.

  Smith must have been paid off by the Indians just like a former South African captain

Didn't watch it .... so can't really comment.

However, from what I saw on the Sports news it appears that everyone is giving them a lotta flack for not going for the win .....

I would appear that it was NOT Smith's decision ..... but Philander and Steyn's, maybe moreso Vernon's !!! :-\

Graeme Smith explained the decision was made by the two batsmen at the crease and was not a team order. They considered who South Africa had left to bat and made their decision based on that.

"Ultimately the guys out in the middle, what they thought was in the best interest of the team," Smith explained. "Morne [Morkel] struggling to stand really. And Immy [Imran Tahir] - he would probably say himself that you are not too sure what you are going to get from Immy. I think we as a team have to support the decision Dale and Vernon made in the middle."

Smith said, at that stage, no messages went out to Philander or Steyn. "You can't send out messages between overs. That is not allowed," he said, but confirmed Steyn had gone out with some instructions. "The message was to set it up for the last over. Then there were a couple of maidens bowled, which made it difficult. I think ultimately we needed to give Vernon an opportunity to win us the game. I think he was the guy that probably would have done that. It never happened," Smith said

Read here >>>

This was one of the best Test match I have seen for a long time ebbing and flowing.

After India's first innings one would have thought it was the writing on the wall but they bowled well and securing a lead after which they batted brilliantly, setting a great target.

The consensus was 270 would be adequate as the pitch would deteriorate on day 4 onwards becoming unpredictable and unplayable. That did not happen and in fact when South Africa batted, very few untoward events occurred.

Great innings from Faf and AB and when Philander came in scoring beautifully it was a certain and miraculous victory for South Africa.

However with Faf gone, pushing the score meant the game could have gone either way. If Stein fell then Tahir, a walking wicket, and Morkel uncertain then South Africa could have lost.

Philander made the correct decision unless his nation would have accepted, and exonerated him, had he gone for it and lost.

Excellent game and neither team deserved to either win or lose.

who weaing the shades...Kyle or Easyrider.  the pitch went bad or did it not! ::confused::

and suppose Philander locking down had gotten out  anyway......  hue and cry about not attacking.if he had attacked he would not have lost his wicket  ::confused::

and is Smith not a kind of looney bin anyway..who once made a worse decisin to declae than Sobers and was praise where Sobers was pilloried ::confused::

I remember once Nasser Hussain sent the Oz into bat on winning the toss at Brisbane in an Ashes,  and apart from Michael Vaugh the Oz murdered england.  we never heard the last of that one did we..  ::confused::

what made Kyle so angry ::confused::

omg!  man ready to explode!  I hope no cutlasses were nearby!  pheeeeeeew