South Africa 'lack hunger'

Smith was forced to concede that Sri Lanka tried harder

Defeated South African captain Graeme Smith was disappointed with the attitude of his players after they lost the Test series in Sri Lanka 1-0.

Smith said: "We have a lot of re-thinking to do after this match. Our players just did not perform in the field and seemed to lack hunger."

But he paid credit to match-winner Chaminda Vaas, the Sri Lankan bowler who crushed his side on Sunday.

"Vaas has shown time and again what he is capable of," said Smith.

Sri Lanka had the advantage of a better spin attack going into the series but their pacemen delivered the knock-out punch with Vaas showing his ability with the new ball as well as the old.

Malinga is one of those selfless kind of bowlers who comes in enthusiastically and bowls with everything he has Graeme Smith

After a wicket on the rain-hit fourth day, he came back to remove two of the three early wickets on the final morning as South Africa fell to 36-5.

And just when Mark Boucher (51) and Boeta Dippenaar (59 not out) added 101 runs for the sixth wicket to raise hopes of a resistance, Vaas came back to remove Boucher, finishing with 6-29.

"Boucher's wicket was a crucial one because the pair seemed to be very comfortable in the middle," said Vaas.

"This is definitely one of my best performances because I got wickets when they mattered."