Diary
I should have left England much earlier
By Graeme Smith
Sep 9, 2008, 10:35

It was a shame to leave the England tour early. My tennis elbow and the one-day series loss was a miserable end to the tour after the elation of winning the Test series.

The ended what has been a long and tiring season for all of us, which began as far back as the Twenty20 World Cup last September. My injury first surfaced in the IPL and it has got gradually worse throughout the England tour.
 
I played with pain killers from the time we landed and it was about biting the bullet and getting out on the field. Sometimes I hardly trained and just did enough to prepare myself mentally for matches.
 
After my hundred at Edgbaston that's when the pain really became terrible and I should probably have called it a day then (rather than a month later), but when you are captain it can be difficult to let go - you feel responsible for the team. It got so bad I had to change my grip on the bat handle just to find a way of relieving the pain.
 
There is a chance this injury may hinder me further but I am hoping it will go and won't come back again after rest and the rehab in the gym now I am back home. I had a cortisone injection in the tendon and I’m trying to stay away from surgery at this time.
 
I realise that having played the IPL some will have little sympathy and I understand that but it is difficult to say no to those kinds of offers. With the amount of international cricket as well, schedules are becoming tighter but ultimately I am doing what I love doing so I am certainly not complaining.
 
In terms of our recent defeats in the one-day series, I think there are a few reasons why that happened. One is that England's selection was right and they had the guys to play really powerful, attacking cricket and they need to be given credit. Kevin (Pietersen) is doing a good job but I would think he would not want to be judged at least until after the Ashes when he has had chance to tour. He may well be a big success but it is still early days.
 
We have been like a hot air balloon where we reached such great heights of winning the Test series at Edgbaston and after that we just popped.
 
It has been a useful lesson for us not to put so much emphasis on one goal. We were so determined at the start of the tour to become the first side since readmission to win a Test series in England that we sort of relaxed once that was achieved.
 
But the team has changed quite a bit as we have lost big players in the side like Shaun Pollock and Charl Langveldt and youngsters are now having to mature quickly and recognise their roles. But I know we will get it right.