Graeme Smith - A captain who can't be replaced

Graeme Smith leaves the field for one last time

It’s sad news for the South Africa team. Graeme Smith will retire from international cricket following the conclusion of the third Test. The man, who made his debut at Cape Town in 2002, will end his career in the same venue.

Graeme Smith has been a successful leader for South Africa. He took South Africa to number one in Tests and till now they are the number one ranked team in Test cricket. It’s not easy to be number one in Tests and hold that position for such a long time is not a cakewalk. But Graeme Smith certainly has a record to brag out.

South Africa also had players who supported Graeme Smith – Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis and AB de Villers. The three players played an important role for South Africa. Whenever the top order collapsed, either one of the three will rise to the occasion. An ideal example would be the first Test match against India at Johannesburg in December 2013. South Africa were on verge of losing the Test, but a salvaging innings from de Villers and du Plessis helped South Africa to secure a draw. With the draw, it helped Smith to avoid a series defeat at home.

Under Graeme Smith, South Africa have been unbeaten away from home for eight years and have not lost a single series at home for the last five years. It’s purely because of Graeme Smith. Graeme Smith’s on-field captaincy was the key to success. He was smart enough in shuffling his bowlers. In Tests, he generally didn’t allow the batsmen to play freely initially. He attacked with three slips, a gully, short point, forward short-leg and short cover. Since his bowlers have good pace, this field-placement had worked out for Smith on many occasions.

He also intelligently used Dale Steyn. When Steyn strikes with the new ball, he allowed Steyn to bowl for 7 overs in his first spell. It was a good tactic from Smith as the opponents found it tough to consolidate the situation if Steyn struck with the new ball. It also gave Smith a chance to bundle out the opposition team under 100. This was the main reason why Smith had proved to be a successful captain in Test cricket.

Another reason behind Smith’s success was the team he had. When he took over the captaincy from Shaun Pollock in 2003, he had the batsmen who have been good nick, and the bowlers were fearsome. He had Jacques Kallis, Herschell Gibbs, Neil McKenzie, Dippenaer and in the bowling department, Makhaya Nitini, and Shaun Pollock who have posed problems to even world’s best batsmen on display.

When it comes to batting, he has been the most prolific opener for South Africa. Smith has been part of all four South Africa’s opening partnership of 300 runs. He had tasted success with Gibbs three times, and a world record partnership of 415 runs with Neil McKenzie.

He also holds the record for the highest scorer by a foreign player in a Test match at Lord’s. In South Africa’s tour of England in 2003, Smith was the captain of South Africa. He scored two double centuries in consecutive Tests. He scored 277 at Edgbaston, and in the next Test match at Lord’s he scored 259. 259 is the highest individual score by a foreign player at Lord’s and no other batsmen has overtaken him.

When South Africa had a horrid time in 2004, losing the Tests to India, England and Sri Lanka, Graeme Smith changed the fortunes of South Africa by scoring centuries in three consecutive Tests against West Indies – 148 at Queen’s Park, 104 at Kensington Oval and 126 at Antigua. After a series of defeats, South Africa managed to win the Test series in West Indies in 2005 with Smith playing an important role. This speaks about Smith’s master-class in Tests.

However he gradually lost his form in the ongoing series against Australia. He was constantly troubled by the pace and bounce of Mitchell Johnson. He managed only 45 runs in this series. It’s not that he hasn’t been troubled by left-arm pacers. He had been dismissed by Zaheer Khan 15 times in his career. He lost his reflex and was unable to pick the length of the bowler. Therefore he felt this is the right time to end his international career.

A captain who can’t be replaced in Tests. He’s certainly one of the greatest captains of modern erna

Records of Graeme Smith

• He holds the record for captaining in most Tests - 102 matches as captain of South Africa
• He holds the record of highest number Test wins, most by any captain – 50 wins
• He’s the fastest South African cricketer to reach 1000 Test runs
• He holds the record for most number of centuries as Test captain – 15