Proteas search for answers after CT pullout

New Delhi: South Africa will be without their injured captain Graeme Smith for the rest of their series against England but despite that body blow and the fact that they are two down in the series, the players are upbeat because they don't have to tour Pakistan for the Champions Trophy.

As they got some down time in with schoolkids in London, South Africa's cricketers are relieved that once their tour of England wraps up, they will be headed home and not to Pakistan and a week after they put their foot down, the players are convinced they made the right decision.

"The guys were pretty relieved not to go there because safety comes first. But we would have loved to play it, so it's a bit of mixed feeling but we are just happy to go home and to go reassess after this tour and to get things going again," said AB de Villiers.

Reports suggest that once they reach home, South Africa will be involved in a tri-series along with Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Some former Pakistan players have criticised the PCB for doing business with the South African board especially as they had led the move to scuttle the Champions Trophy.

But the PCB has brushed that aside with CEO Shafqat Naghmi saying: "We are not going to adopt a tit-for-tat policy because the decision to postpone the Champions Trophy was unanimous in the end. People don't realise that Pakistan has still got the hosting rights and it was because of strong stand taken by some boards that the tournament was not relocated to Sri Lanka"

South Africa will worry about the tri-series later though. After their crushing 10-wicket loss in the second game, they need to bounce back on Friday or the one-day series will be lost to England.

"You are bound to have, you know have an off day like that, but in saying that I think that obviously we have got good enough players you know in the team and enough experience to turn it all around and you know come back strong this weekend," said Herschelle Gibbs.

With skipper Smith out of the game due to an injury, South Africa face an uphill task.

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