Graeme Smith thinks Sri Lanka is the form team of the Champions Trophy competition and his South African lineup will have to produce something special to beat them in subcontinental conditions.

It's not beyond the South Africans, he said, particularly with survival in the competition at stake.

``Probably the conditions suit Sri Lanka more tomorrow, but it doesn't mean we don't believe that we can't beat them,'' Smith said Monday. ``We know we are a quality one-day team _ you don't get to No. 2 in the world by not being able to beat quality teams in their own backyard.''

The South Africans lost their opening match, a low-scoring tussle against New Zealand in difficult conditions at Mumbai.

Smith is hoping to get a better wicket for Tuesday's crucial Group B game against the Sri Lankans, who had to come through qualifying.

``It looks a better wicket than what we had in Mumbai and hopefully it produces good game of cricket,'' Smith said. ``Tomorrow whether you bowl first or you bat first, you got to be able to adapt to the conditions.''

Brabourne Stadium's wicket at Mumbai was heavily criticized last week when New Zealand bundled out the South Africans for 108 after posting a modest total of 195.

``The pitch broke up, the ball turned a hell of a lot,'' Smith complained after that match.

After failing to negotiate the New Zealand spin attack of Jeetan Patel (3-3) and Daniel Vettori (1-15), the South African batsmen can expect a torrid time against champion Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.

Instead of dwelling on Sri Lanka's strengths, Smith said he wanted to focus on the strength of the South African team.

``We would love to have (Muttiah) Muralitharan or (Shane) Warne,'' Smith said. ``Any team in the world would want to have a match-winner of that caliber, but not every team has one.

``Our strength has always been our seam bowling _ I think when Sri Lanka or anyone comes to South Africa they wish to have (a bowler like) Shaun Pollock or Makhya Ntini . . . it's just about trying to put your strength into the conditions you play, and that's what we are going to do tomorrow.''

Sri Lanka _ which won all its three qualifying games _ was upset by Pakistan in its opening main draw match before recovering to beat New Zealand by seven wickets.

A defeat Tuesday would keep South Africa out of the semifinals' reckoning in this biennial tournament. A win for Sri Lanka would give its chances of advancing a great boost.

``The pressure is on both teams,'' Smith said. ``It's a kind of a knockout tournament.''

Mahela Jayawardene led Sri Lanka to a massive 144-run win in the qualifying game against Zimbabwe here at Ahmadabad on Oct. 14, when Muralitharan bowled a tidy 10-over spell that netted 2-20.

``We played here before against Zimbabwe and the wicket did turn, hopefully it will do the same,'' against South Africa, Jayawardene said.

``We know that it's a crucial game for us, it's more like a quarter-final.''

© The Canadian Press, 2007