Ashwell Prince

Calcutta: South Africa, having floored mighty Australia Down Under, will now aim to reach the top of world cricket and then stay there for as long as possible, vice captain Ashwell Prince said.

“The captain (Graeme Smith) has already said that Australia set the standard over a decade and obviously we don’t want to dip after winning one series. We want to sustain that level of performance for a long period of time,” Prince said in a Cricket South Africa statement on Wednesday.

“It goes without saying that, if you are at the top, you want to stay there for as long as possible. That goes for any sportsman and any team. I am sure that will be the goal going forward.

The gritty southpaw sounded pleased with the team’s performance over the previous year.

“We have come a long way as a team,” Prince reflected.

“We have won in most countries in the last year to 18 months. The only place we didn’t win was India where we came away with a draw. The guys are very confident of their own ability and very proud of what they have achieved and we are looking forward to build on that and go from strength to strength.”

The South African vice-captain, who has missed the first two Tests against Australia due to injury, pointed out that the team had learned an important lesson from the England tour when their performance slackened after clinching the Test series.

“We have just come off a tour of England where we led 2-0 and were then a bit disappointing in the final Test. We don’t want to make the same mistakes and this third Test is obviously important for the rest of the summer.

“We still have three Tests to play against them at home and to win this (third) Test will obviously keep the momentum with us. Momentum is important and we certainly don’t want to give it back to them.”

Of his own chances of making Saturday’s Sydney Test, he said: “I am over 50 per cent so at this stage it is probably 60-40 in favour of my being fit. Whether I will be selected is another matter altogether. That is out of my hands. I am not a selector, so we will leave that to them.

“We expect Australia to come back strongly. There are some new guys in their squad and they will want to do well enough to stake a claim for the tour of South Africa as well as the Ashes coming up. They have a lot to play for but so do we. We will take it one game at a time. We want to win the home series as well but we will take it one game at a time.”

Beating the Australians in their own backyard is as good as lifting the World Cup, felt South African allrounder Jacques Kallis.

“It is up there with winning the World Cup, if not better. What better place do you want to do it? I have had some individual high moments here but... This takes the cake, having won a Test match here,” Kallis was quoted as saying by an Australian daily.

Kallis, who scored two half centuries in the opening Perth Test, said playing and winning Down Under is one of the toughest challenges that a cricketer can imagine.

“All the younger generation, I don’t think they appreciate just how tough a place Australia is to tour,” he said.