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Graeme Smith Profile And Biography
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for a nation eager for a fresh start after the disasters of
the Hansie Cronje affair, Smith was clearly made of the right
stuff. The selectors' faith was amply justified on South
Africa's tour of England in 2003, when Smith scored
back-to-back Test double-centuries - a national-record 277 at Edgbaston,
and a match-winning 259 at Lord's - to put his side in firm command of the five-Test series. Smith had
quickly settled in at the highest level, right from the
moment he took Matthew Hayden's invective on the chin to
score a battling half-century on his Test debut. Until his
appointment, Smith's career had been hampered to a certain
degree by South Africa's controversial quota system. His Test
debut was delayed when Ashwell Prince was selected for the
first Test against Australia in 2001-02, and he also missed
out on original selection for the 2003 World Cup, although he
later joined the squad when Jonty Rhodes cracked a finger.
 Smith woke up to the harsh life of international cricket with
a jolt in 2004. Reality bit fiercest on the subcontinent,
where a declining South African side lost Test series to
India and Sri Lanka. There was also a run of 11 defeats in 12
one-day internationals, the start of an ultimately fruitless
struggle with England, and personal humiliation after some
wily mind games from Stephen Fleming in Auckland. Yet for the
most part, Smith continued to crunch runs aplenty. There was
one minor epic: an unbeaten 125 to square the series in New
Zealand that was made of granite. Smith yielded to no man
physically, but he could be brought to his knees by more
insidious means. By the end of the year, as Matthew Hoggard's
in-swinger had him fumbling around his front pad time after
time, even the runs had started to dry up. But he roared back
to form in the series against West Indies in 2005, when he
piled on three consecutive hundreds, and became the first
captain since 1977 to finish a Caribbean tour without losing
a game. He captained South Africa to a thrilling 3-2 one-day series win over Australia at home in perhaps the greatest cracker of all. In a record-breaking contest between bat and ball, Smith powered his side's reply to Australia's 434 for 4 by hitting 90 from 55 and adding 187 for the second wicket with Herschel Gibbs in just 20.1 overs. South Africa eventually won the match in 49.1 overs and Smith had a suitable boost  going into the three-Test series. Torn ligaments in his right
ankle, sustained during a running injury in Knysna, ruled
Smith out for 12 weeks but he was retained as South Africa's
captain for the Champions Trophy in India. Scores of 5 and 10
in the first Test loss against India at Johannesburg took his
tally for the last ten Tests to 465 at 24.47, with just two
half-centuries in 19 innings, but Smith bounced back hard
with three consecutive fifties to take South Africa to a
come-from-behind series win. In the series against Pakistan
right after that, Smith struggled for runs, but crafted a
crucial 64 at Cape Town that was worth a century. He hit two
half-centuries in a 3-1 rout of Pakistan in the one-day leg
of the series. In his first World Cup, Smith captained South
Africa to the semis, where they were brutally hammered by
eventual winners Australia. Personally, Smith had a good
tournament, with 443 runs. After leading South Africa to a
2-0 Test-series rout against the touring New Zealanders, his
side fashioned another come-from-behind series win against
West Indies. On the tour of Bangladesh that followed, he
entered the record books with an opening stand of 415 with
Neil McKenzie during the second Test in Chittagong. He signed
for the Rajasthan Royals in the first season of the IPL,
though injury kept him out of the final. |
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