Graeme Smith

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Graeme Smith
South Africa
Personal information
Full name	Graeme Craig Smith
Nickname	Biff[1]
Born	1 February 1981 (1981-02-01) (age 27)
	Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa
Role	Batsman
Batting style	Left-handed
Bowling style	Right arm off-spin
International information
Test debut (cap 286)	March 8, 2002: v Australia
Last Test	April 11, 2008: v India
ODI debut (cap 68)	March 30, 2002: v Australia
Last ODI	March 14, 2008: v Bangladesh
ODI shirt no.	15
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1990/2000	Gauteng
2000/01-2003/04	Western Province
2004/05-2006/07	Cape Cobras
2005	Somerset
2008-	Rajasthan Royals (squad no. 15)
Career statistics
	Tests	FC	ODIs	LA
Matches	66	101	133	185
Runs scored	5392	8221	5016	7178
Batting average	48.57	49.52	41.11	42.72
100s/50s	14/22	22/31	7/36	11/54
Top score	277	311	134*	134*
Balls bowled	1319	1687	1026	1968
Wickets	8	11	18	47
Bowling average	100.12	95.27	52.83	38.21
5 wickets in innings	0	0	0	0
10 wickets in match	0	0	n/a	n/a
Best bowling	2/145	2/145	3/30	3/30
Catches/stumpings	83/-	133/-	71/-	98/-
As of April 13, 2008 Source: CricketArchive

Graeme Craig Smith (born 1 February 1981 in Johannesburg) is a cricketer who is captain of the South African cricket team, taking over from Shaun Pollock after the 2003 Cricket World Cup. In 2003 on the tour of England he made double centuries in consecutive test matches: including a national record of 277,^[2] at Edgbaston,^[3] and 259 at Lord's.^[4] His score of 259 at Lord's is the highest score at the ground by a foreign player.^[5] The previous record was 254 by the Australian Sir Donald Bradman. He has been described as a tall and aggressive left-hand opener.^[6]

[edit] Early years

Smith played three Under-19s tests^[7] and seven one day internationals for South Africa Under-19s,^[8] of which five were during the Under 19 Cricket World Cup.^[9] He scored one fifty in the test matches, but scored five half centuries in the one dayers. Smith was also awarded the South African Cricketer of the Year award for his performances in the 2001–02 South Africian cricket season.^[10]

[edit] Domestic career

Graeme Smith has played for a number of cricket teams in South Africa. He currently plays for Western Province cricket team but due to his international commitments, his appearances for them have been limited, his last game for them being on October 28, 2004.^[11] In total he has played 17 games for Western Province scoring 1,312 runs with four centuries at an average of 46.85.^[12] He has also played for other teams in South Africa including United Cricket Board of South Africa Invitation XI and Western Province Boland.

He has also played county cricket for Somerset in the 2005 English cricket season, captaining the club for part of the 2005 season, and he scored a century in a tour match against the Australians in preparation for the 2005 Ashes series.^[13] Against Leicestershire at Taunton he scored his maiden first-class triple hundred (311 off 255 balls).^[14] He also hit 105 in the Twenty20 Cup match against Northamptonshire County Cricket Club,^[15] which is currently the 11th highest score in the domestic Twenty20 Cup competition. Smith also captained the team to victory on finals day to secure the Twenty20 Cup trophy, making 64 not out from 47 balls in the final.^[16]

[edit] International career

He made his Test debut for South Africa in 2002 in Cape Town against Australia, batting at number three. The second innings of the match saw him score his first test half-century.^[17] During the tour of England in 2003 he made double centuries in consecutive test matches: a national record of 277,^[18] at Edgbaston,^[19] and 259 at Lord's.^[20] His score of 259 at Lord's is the highest score at the ground by a foreign player.^[21] The previous record was 254 by Sir Donald Bradman. These performances prompted Alec Stewart to call him "the most impressive 22-year-old I have seen in cricket".^[22] When Graeme Smith was first chosen to be captain, there was criticism due to the fact that he had 'few leadership credentials'.^[23] Graeme Smith was only 22 years and 82 days old when he captained his first match against Bangladesh national cricket team and in the process become South Africa national cricket team youngest ever captain.^[24]

He had played only eight test matches and 22 ODI before being given the captaincy.^[25] His growth in the role was evidenced when he was selected to captain the ICC World XI in the ICC Super Series Test Match between the ICC World XI and Australia in October 2005.^[26]

During the year 2004 South Africa had an unsuccessful run in ODI cricket in terms of what they would have expected. With a 5–1 lose to New Zealand national cricket team and a 5–0 lose to Sri Lankan national cricket team. They did win 3–1 to West Indies national cricket team earlier in the year but with these set of results it was described as a sign of South Africa being in a state of 'freefall'.^[27][28] In test matches also South Africa suffered a poor run with series losses to England, Indian and Sri Lankan national cricket teams. They did though win a test series over the West Indies and a drawn series with New Zealand.^[29]

South Africa's tour of Australia, and Australia's subsequent return tour in the 2005–06 season were disappointments for Smith, as they succumbed to a 2–0 defeat in Australia,^[30] then a 3–0 whitewash at home.^[31] Pride was redeemed when Smith led his team to victory in South Africa's win over Australia in a One Day International at Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, on March 12, 2006. Australia set South Africa a world record 434–4 from 50 overs, which was eclipsed by South Africa who achieved 438–9 with a ball to spare.^[32] which resulted in a 3–2 win over the Australians.^[33] Smith scored 90 runs off 55 balls during the victory and was involved in a second wicket partnership of 187 runs with Herschelle Gibbs.^[34]

He has also had three 300 plus stands with Herschelle Gibbs in Test cricket. These were against the West Indies, England and Pakistan.^[35][36][37]

On January 3, 2007 against India at Cape Town, Smith brought up his 4000th Test run.^[38] He is the second youngest player in Test history to reach the milestone at 25 years and 336 days behind Sachin Tendulkar (24 years and 224 days).^[39]

In the 1st ODI against Pakistan on February 4, Smith hit an over of Naved-ul-Hasan for 27 runs and became the first player in ODI history to hit six fours off an over.^[40] As captain he led the South African cricket team to 20 consecutive undefeated matches in One Day Internationals in 2005.^[41] In early 2007 Smith's South Africans replaced Australia on top of the official ICC rankings for ODI cricket^[42] but returned to second place after mixed results in the 2007 ICC World Cup thus far after losing to Australia by eight wickets. In the 2007 World Cup he started the tournament with four successive 50s, a feat never before achieved by a captain.^[43]

During the second Test against Bangladesh at Chittagong in begun on February 29, 2008 Smith and Neil McKenzie put on a world record 415 for the first wicket.^[44] It beat the previous record of 413 which had been set in 1956 by Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy. Smith also became the first South African player in history to be involved in four separate 200 run opening partnerships in Tests.^[45] They had finished day one with 405 runs on the board which was the most ever put on by a pair in a single day of Test cricket without losing a wicket.^[46] In April 2008, Smith played for the Rajasthan Royals of the Indian Premier League.

[edit] Personality and controversies

Smith was once accused by West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo of racial abuse, but was cleared of those allegations.^[47] He has however, been punished several times by the International Cricket Council for various infringements, mostly for dissent and slow over rates.^[48][49][50]

He has had a difficult relationship with South African-born English batsman Kevin Pietersen. Graeme Smith once said "I'm patriotic about my country, and that's why I don't like Kevin Pietersen"^[51]. This refers to Pietersen who was brought up in South Africa leaving there to join England. Pietersen has described Graeme Smith as an "absolute muppet" in his book Crossing the Boundary.^[52]

Smith has also had problems with the current Test England captain Michael Vaughan during the 2004–05 England tour of South Africa over a dispute concerning bad light during the 4th test in Smith's native Johannesburg. In Vaughan's second book Calling the Shots Vaughan refers to Smith as "the witness".Vaughan lost his entire match fee for the match after the dispute.^[53]

[edit] Test centuries

An innings-by-innings breakdown of Smith's Test match batting career, showing runs scored (red bars) and the average of the last ten innings (blue line).

[edit] One Day International centuries

[edit] Indian Premier League

Gream Smith is playing in Indian Premier League for Rajasthan Royals. His and Swapnil Asnodkar's opening partnership has won Rajsthan Royals many matches.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Cricinfo profile
• Graeme Smith Career Averages
• Official Website

v • d • e South Africa squad - 2003 Cricket World Cup 1 Pollock (c) • 2 Boucher • 3 Boje • 4 Dippenaar • 5 Donald • 6 Gibbs • 7 Hall • 8 Kallis • 9 Kirsten • 10 Klusener • 11 Langeveldt • 12 Ntini • 13 Peterson • 14 Rhodes • 15 Zondeki

v • d • e South Africa squad - 2007 Cricket World Cup 1 Bosman • 2 Boucher • 3 De Villiers • 4 Gibbs • 5 Hall • 6 Kallis • 7 Kemp • 8 Langeveldt • 9 Nel • 10 Ntini • 11 Peterson • 12 Pollock • 13 Prince • 14 Smith (c) • 15 Telemachus • Coach: Arthur