On this day, February 1: The birth of Graeme Smith, one of the greatest captains in the history of cricket. South African Left-handed batter Graeme Smith was the first player to captain in 100 Tests. He
was handed over the captaincy post 2003 WC. At 22 when he took over the captaincy, he was the youngest to be in charge of the team. Graeme Smith was always known as a gritty batter and his knocks justify it. Je scored back-to-back double centuries in England. He was also involved in the 434 historic run chases against Australia.
South African especially in Test cricket saw plenty of positive results under the captaincy of Smith. Post 2007, they won series in Pakistan, Bangladesh and England. They also won a series in Australia in 2008 under his captaincy. In 2012, Graeme Smith led South Africa beat England 2-0 and became the Number 1 test side. In the same year they did not lose a single Test match.
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Graeme Smith retired from cricket in 2014 at the age of 33. He could have easily played for more years but due to personal reasons he had to retire. His records across formats is phenomenal, Smith has played 117 Test matches and scored 9265 runs at an average of 48.26 which included 27 centuries. Most of his centuries have come in a winning cause. Graeme Smith has also played 197 ODI matches at scored 6989 runs at an average of 37.98 and has ten centuries. One of the bravest moments of his career came in Australia during a Test match where on a difficult pitch he came out to bat in the final day in a big to save the Test and batted with one hand. Graeme Smith will always be one of the greatest captains in World cricket. The way he led his troops made him one of the best. Smith also played in 33 T20I matches scoring 982 runs. After his retirement, Graeme Smith went on to serve Cricket South Africa as a director and in 2022 he was appointed the chairman for SA20 league.
