Graeme Smith by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Player:

GC Smith

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DateLine: 17th April 2009

 

When people look back at Graeme Smith's career, what will likely come to mind is his role in turning South Africa from perennial chokers into a world-beating unit. For too long had South Africa been weighed down by expectation, an inability to complete wins that really mattered - that record-breaking 434 chase in Johannesburg seemed but a rare blip on the radar.

 

In March 2003, Smith became South Africa's youngest-ever captain, when he took over from Shaun Pollock following the disastrous World Cup campaign. 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.

 

He went on to captain a bittersweet first World Cup, where Smith made 443 runs but South Africa were brutally hammered by eventual winners Australia. Yet South Africa gathered steam in Test cricket, and under Smith ended a 43-year hiatus with their first series win in England since the end of apartheid.