South Africa skipper Smith aiming to push 'wounded' England over the edge
Graeme Smith has brushed off concerns about his fitness and instead chosen to focus on how his side can open up English 'wounds' at Edgbaston.
The South Africa captain is struggling with a sore back and will undergo a fitness test this morning to decide if he can lead the tourists into the third npower Test. But he is confident that he will be ready to capitalise on disarray in the home ranks.
Since South Africa won by 10 wickets at Headingley, England have been besieged by a selection debate and a damaging game of pass the buck.
Ready to go: South Africa captain Graeme Smith warms up alongside Jean-Paul Duminy (left) and Hashim Amla (right)
Smith said: 'It's not something that surprised me after the selection of (Darren) Pattinson. I think no one really knew anything about him so if things didn't go well there were always going to be a lot of questions to be answered.
'What has surprised us is more the indecisiveness around the England leadership, more than the actual selection. The calling in and the discussions, no one taking responsibility.'
Now Smith believes that if his team turn the screw, England might fold. 'As an opposition team, any time you can see the other team is under pressure, it does benefit you,' he said.
'We know if we can play really good cricket for the first couple of days here we can open up some wounds and put certain players under pressure.'
One of the players they will target is Paul Collingwood and Smith added: 'He thrives on pressure, so we need to bowl well at him to create chances from the weaknesses that we've worked out.
'If we can create openings in the top order and get to Paul and Ian Bell as quickly as possible, it does allow us the opportunity to put them under pressure.'
JP Duminy is on stand-by to play if Smith isn't fit but the captain is optimistic about his prospects. He added: 'I would like to think I'm 100 per cent to play.'
