Smith: We're club cricketers

England's next Test opponents are struggling to play like "club cricketers", according to their captain.

Confidence could not be higher among Michael Vaughan's team following those clean sweeps against New Zealand and West Indies. This contrasts with South Africa's depressed mood in Sri Lanka, where they have lost a Test by more than 300 runs and been beaten in two one-day internationals.

"At the moment, as an all-round team, we would be lucky to be called club cricketers," complained captain Graeme Smith.

South Africa have struggled so badly in Sri Lanka that coach Eric Simons has threatened to quit if there is no improvement by the end of next month's Champions Trophy tournament in England, and was reported to have called the team's performance "gutless" after the Second Test.