Port Elizabeth, Jan 22: South African skipper Graeme Smith acknowledged the effort his team put in to win the game at St George’s Park and level the five-match series 2-2. The hosts are now all set for the deciding match at Centurion on Sunday, the 23rd.

Excerpts from a post-match interview

On the five-match ODI series being level at 2-2

Yeah, [it’s a] big game on Sunday. We needed to play well today and we so did pretty well […] We managed to show a lot of determination and skill to get to the total and it was nice to get the win.

On spiralling to a score of 118/5 and the revival with two big partnerships

Yeah, it was a lot of skill and lot of determination to set up total, you know. We knew if we could get anything around 240/250 it would be a total that we backed ourselves to defend. And with JP [Duminy] batting along and all the boys batting around [him], we managed to get a little more. So that was an excellent effort from them, especially after [we lost our way] through the middle period.

On another good performance by the bowlers

Yeah, I think we have done pretty well with the ball so far in the series. The bowlers have bowled well, we fielded generally well, bar the other night at the backend. We dropped one or two half chances. But I think the intensity has been good.

On the upcoming ODI series decider being the perfect culmination to a good summer of cricket

Yeah, it’s a really nice stadium at Centurion. It’s the kind of [ground] we also play well at. We look forward [to] going there. As you say, the teams have got lot of stick from each other. We’ve been landing blows for two months now and it comes down to the last game of the tour. It will be another good crowd there and it’s good for the game of cricket. It’s been competitive.