Graeme Smith has a habit of leading from the front. He did it when South Africa sealed victory against England, their first victory on English soil since 1965. Now as they create history by becoming the first South African team to beat Australia since their return in 1991-’92, Smith will have a personal moment to rejoice as well.
smith with trophy pkbzv 17022
Smith became the youngest captain of the South African team when he was appointed skipper at twenty-two years of age. Through learning and growing, trial and error sometimes by fire, Smith is beginning to truly see his efforts paying off. He is now the first South African captain to have Australia eating out of South Africa’s hands in a Test series.
But that is not Smith’s highlight alone. In this year of history making for South Africa, Smith has also achieved personal milestones that make him one to look up to.
His seventy-five at the MCG in Melbourne was not only instrumental in pushing South Africa to a decisive 2-0 victory over the hosts, it also meant that Smith has pushed the boundaries further in his own batting career. Even Virender Sehwag comes nowhere close to touching Smith’s numbers.
Smith now has 1656 runs from the 2008 calendar year at an awesome average of 72! It makes him the third highest runner getter in any year, with Viv Richards and Mohammad Yousuf leading the pack of run scorers in any calendar year. If the skipper’s contributions are not evident from these, they are also visible from the shrewd moves such as the decision to move himself to short cover and Ricky Ponting appeared jumpy in the nineties in Australia’s second innings and eventually fell to Morne Morkel in the very same position.
As Dale Steyn himself said, the team was fortunate to be led by a brilliant captain. What more could teams want than a performing captain – with the thinking cap and with the bat?
Graeme Smith Inherits Captain Courageous Tag!
Smith Picks up his Trophy; KP gets his First!
South Africa Trounce Australia and History With Panache
Oops...SA do it again and England are Without a Head!
South Africa: Rewriting History
South Africa Overcome Australia’s Target for Famous Melbourne Victory
Related Stories
Graeme Smith: Time to Set Record Straight; SA-Origin England Team Next on Target
Those are pretty strong emotions there. And the South African team and captain are well aware of the pressure and burden they carry with them, as they look to take on England in their second Super Eights match in the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 in the...
How Smith and Warne shaped the Test success
by Trevor Chesterfield South Africa's sixth captain since the end of isolation, Graeme Smith has admitted how he learnt a lot from Shane Warne when playing in the Indian Premier League. It has been argued as well how this combination and SMS...
Sreesanth Claims Smith Woke Him Up; Smith & Dhoni Agree No Place for Personal Remarks
It is a contrasting story at best. On the one hand, the mercurial fast bowler claims it was the South African captain who riled him enough into performing while the former is claiming he was the victim of some rather personal remarks. While...
Flower Thinks SA's Success Has Got to Their Head!
The England coach is not holding back on what he thinks about the South African team and their tactics. Just two Twenty20 matches into England's tour to South Africa and the claws came out. The South African team, and the coach, Mickey Arthur, in..
Virat Kohli And Co. Enjoy Bike Ride before Formula One Racing ( See Pics)
Is it not known that the Indian cricketers can also love demons of speed? Even as some of the Indian cricket team will fly to Noida for the first Formula One Indian Grand Prix, they did enjoy bike rides, although not on the circuit, with the keys firmly w
