Smith sees hope through despair

COLOMBO: South Africa captain Graeme Smith hopes the painful lessons learnt on his team's tour of Sri Lanka can pave the way for long-term success.

South Africa slumped to their 10th successive one-day defeat as the hosts completed a 5-0 whitewash with a 49-run victory in the final match of the series on Tuesday.

"As a very proud sportsman, from a proud sporting nation, is it obviously very disappointing to go down in the way we have," Smith said.

"But maybe this heavy loss is not so bad down the line if it gives us a clear direction of where we need to go and what we need to do.

"It gives us a chance now to strategise, move forward and perhaps have a fresher approach," he added.

"We have got to pick ourselves up very quickly and have our minds and a strategy in place by the time we arrive in England for the Champions Trophy.

"We will take it game by game, hopefully moving through the competition. The conditions will suit us a lot more and we will be facing a lot more seam, which is more second nature to us."
Coach Eric Simons, facing growing criticism after the team's dismal run, paid tribute to the Sri Lankans.

"It is pretty depressing as proud team, but the guys have given there all," he said.

"A lot of credit should go to how the Sri Lankans have played throughout this series -- they have played some very good cricket.

"They have had them under pressure once or twice and every time someone has come to the party and they have come through.

"I still believe that this team is very talented and that we can go to the ICC Champions Trophy and turn things around.

"I know that I am going to go back to some kind of storm back home and there is pressure on me, but that is one of life's challenges and it is a challenge that I accept."

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene, deputising for Marvan Atapattu, paid tribute to the team.

"This has been the result of a team effort and not the result of one or two star performances -- everyone has been chipping in," he said.

"There are still plenty of areas for us to work on going forward and we need to make sure that we keep doing the basics really well."

"The team will be taking a lot of confidence into the Champions Trophy, a tournament that is very important for us, and we expect to do well," he added.