While cricket fans and journos get in a lather about picking the world's best players, Graeme Smith often gets overlooked. Yet he seems to have been opening the innings and captaining South Africa forever. Not as elegant as Amla, as prolific as Kallis nor as classy as De Villiers, 'Biff' has nonetheless played his way into the pantheon of South African all-time greats. He said himself that it was determination rather than supreme talent that got him where he is today. That big jaw saw off many an opening bowler over the years. The respect paid to him by the Aussie opponents as he strode onto the pitch and, only too soon afterwards, off again for the last time in internationals also showed the high esteem in which Smith is held around the world.
A shame that this home series has been one of his leanest of a twelve-year career, but I suppose that helped make the decision to quit mid-way through a rare lost Test match. There's also the romance of retiring in front of his home crowd at Newlands but mercifully without the frenzied build-up a la Tendulkar in Mumbai. There was a certain symmetry about his Test career. It was topped and tailed by defeats against Australia in Cape Town almost exactly twelve years apart. His first and final innings were each worth a mere three runs, both times falling to catches off great fast bowlers at their best: Glenn McGrath and Mitchell Johnson.
116 Tests, 197 ODIs and 33 T20s for South Africa, a total of around 17,000 runs and 291 catches add up to a mountain of impressive statistics. Yet his decade and record-breaking 109 Tests as captain are what will make Graeme Smith linger long in the record books. Chucked in at the deep end at 22, he showed his fighting qualities with superb double-centuries against England, and proceeded to oversee South Africa's transformation from nearly-men to Test cricket top-dogs.
What also made him different was the unusual record of having a far superior batting average overseas than on home pitches. Of the top nations, he was outstanding against England and West Indies but failed to register a single century in 27 innings against India. Even prior to the latest series, Australia had proved to be even more of a bogey team, averaging a mere 33. Another statistical quirk is that his average batting in the fourth innings was superior to his figures at earlier stages in the match.
He didn't fare any better against the green baggies in ODIs but almost 7,000 runs in 197 one-dayers is still pretty healthy, as was his strike rate of more than 80. As with his Test career, Biff's ODI sequence ended with an early exit in last November's exciting one-run defeat to Pakistan. Test cricket was his forte but he was formidable in any situation.
Graeme Smith is still only 33 and so has plenty more to offer Surrey, Cobras or anyone else lucky to secure his services. Without him, Kallis and Boucher, South Africa will look a weaker outfit, even though AB and co put up some stiff resistance today and almost pulled off an amazing rescue act until Ryan Harris delivered the coup de grace. Border, Waugh, Brearley, Ganguly, Fleming, Lloyd et al were all mighty leaders, not always of successful teams, but Graeme Smith's willingness to endure the stresses and strains of captaincy and open the batting for so long puts him right near the top of the list of great Test cricket skippers, in any era.
