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Centurion: South African skipper Graeme Smith said after losing to Sri Lanka in the Champions Trophy opener that they failed to implement their game-plan but hoped to come back strongly against New Zealand on Thursday.
"We can't make a excuse. We didn't get our basic right tonight (Tuesday)," Smith said.
"We got to improve very quickly and we have one day in between before we meet New Zealand on Thursday and we have some planning to do for that game and hopefully we will get the performance which we know we are capable of," he added.
Meanwhile, the victorious Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara was all praise for his 'unorthodox' bowler Ajantha Mendis, who claimed three crucial wickets to help his team win and said the spinner was one of the few bowlers whom the batsmen struggle to read.
"One good thing about Ajantha is that even if you see him on and off in a couple of games but still it is a big challenge playing him," Sangakkara said.
The Lankan skipper believes his side has match-winners in Ajantha, Muttiah Muralitharan and Lasith Malinga, whom he considers not a mystery but a little unorthodox.
"Especially with him (Ajantha) and with Murali and Lasith in our side, there is a lot of unorthodox, mystery not as much, but unorthodox match-winners. So we have our bowling attack in place as long as we can back that up with good fielding and minimise extras," he said.
Sangakkara said it was a big challenge to rattle up a big score against South Africa.
"It was a challenge trying to build a defendable total. History says that batting first or second is not of a difference here so it was a case of doing our basics right and getting the partnership going."
South African skipper Graeme Smith said they failed to implement their game-plan but hoped to come back strongly against New Zealand on Thursday.
"We can't make a excuse. We didn't get our basic right tonight (Tuesday)," Smith said.
"We got to improve very quickly and we have one day in between before we meet New Zealand on Thursday and we have some planning to do for that game and hopefully we will get the performance which we know we are capable of," he added.
