Smith salutes seamers

Graeme Smith showered praise on his bowlers after they helped set South Africa secure a series-levelling seven-wicket victory over Australia in the second one-day international in Pretoria.

Wayne Parnell was named man of the match after he ran through the tourists’ top order. He finished with 4-25 while Dale Steyn claimed 4-27 as Australia were dismissed for 131 in 40.2 overs.

Smith then led his side home, top-scoring with 40 as the Proteas reached their target with more than 23 overs to spare.

It was an emphatic response from the hosts after they were crushed by 141 runs in the opening game of the five-match series two days ago.

"Friday we were outplayed – we knew that and we knew were capable of it," said South Africa captain Smith.

"I thought we really prepared well for Friday and we just let ourselves down. Today we wanted to put in a better performance and I think the bowlers really took responsibility for that.

Graeme Smith reserved special praise for Wayne Parnell, who claimed 4-25

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"We bowled first, got the ball in the right areas and, led by Wayne and Dale, it was great. And everyone else backed it up really well.

"So it was a good outing for us. We just wish that we started like this on Friday. But it was nice to come out and hit our straps today."

Smith was particularly pleased for 19-year-old left-arm seamer Parnell, playing in just his second ODI.

"I think he's been working really well,” said Smith. “He's a young guy with a lot of potential and he showed that today.

"I'm really excited for him and he deserves all the success. As he knows, there's still a long road going forward and hopefully he can build up to another exciting performance on Thursday."

Australia captain Ricky Ponting blamed the top order after thy slipped to 19 for five en route to the third lowest total in the history batting first.

“It was generally bad batting from us,” he said. “We knew that the ball would swing a little bit this morning, but it wasn't as if it was swinging around corners.

"Early the wicket was very good. I just think there were some poor shots today from the top-order players in particular and they exposed our middle order to the new ball.

"It's just been something that we haven't been consistent with of late and that's an area that we need to improve on if we want to win the series."

"It was as bad as we've played in a long time. We don't need wholesale changes; we just need the current guys to play a better.

"I'm exactly in the same boat. It's a while since I made a hundred in one-day cricket, so we need to get a lot more consistency out of us for the remainder of the series."