Graeme Smith

South Africa|Opening Batter
Graeme Smith
INTL CAREER: 2002 - 2014
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Full Name

Graeme Craig Smith

Born

February 01, 1981, Johannesburg, Transvaal

Age

43y 47d

Batting Style

Left hand Bat

Bowling Style

Right arm Offbreak

Playing Role

Opening Batter

Meaty, muscular and mighty, Graeme Smith was a colossus as South Africa's captain, and not much less so in his contribution as a batter, in the first two decades of the 21st century.

Smith's leadership and batting were all about being direct and upfront. The subtleties of captaincy grew into his game, but he was generally most comfortable surging once more unto the breach himself with a cursory backward glance to see if his men were following. His batting was similarly forthright: anything bowled near his pads was sent screaming through midwicket. Anything drivable on the off side was driven, brutally, often inelegantly, but always effectively. Square of jaw and shoulder, they didn't call him "Biff" for nothing.

Smith was handed the reins at 22 - which made him his country's youngest captain - and tasked with rebuilding South Africans' faith in the integrity of game itself, which had been shattered by Hansie Cronje's greed and was not restored completely under Shaun Pollock's sincere but undemonstrative leadership. If Pollock was too maturely minded a captain for South African sensibilities, Smith was spot-on: an overgrown schoolyard bully of the nicest possible type, who would just as soon take a (verbal) swing at an opponent as buy him a beer.

The double-centuries he scored in his 11th and 12th Tests (just his third and fourth as captain), in England in 2003 made for an ironclad argument to retain his overtly direct approach to getting the job done.

Those were his early days in charge, but arguably his greatest triumph came much later, when he led South Africa to their first Test series victory in Australia, in 2008-09, memorably batting with a broken hand in Sydney. Under his leadership, South Africa became truly dominant tourists, winning eight away series and losing none between 2007 and 2013. They also went undefeated in 11 series overall between April 2006 and December 2008. He was also the first captain to lead in more than 100 Tests.

Through all his Test triumphs, though, Smith couldn't get his hands on a chunk of ICC silverware. He quit international cricket after a lean series with the bat at home against Australia in March 2014. He went on to serve as Cricket South Africa's director of cricket after retirement, and in 2022 was appointed commissioner of the SA20, South Africa's attempt at a top-tier T20 league.

Graeme Smith Career Stats

Batting & Fielding

FormatMatInnsNORunsHSAveBFSR100s50s4s6sCtSt
Tests11720513926527748.251552559.6727381165241690
ODIs19719410698914137.98864880.811047788441050
T20Is3333298289*31.67770127.530512326180
FC165284191291631148.73--3751--2410
List A25925315933114139.20--1467--1370
T20s86866238910529.861941123.0811129351370

Bowling

FormatMatInnsBallsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR4w5w10w
Tests11737141888582/1452/145110.623.74177.2000
ODIs197431026951183/303/3052.835.5657.0000
T20Is33324570---14.25-000
FC165-17861132112/145-102.903.80162.3-00
List A259-19681796473/303/3038.215.4741.8000
T20s8679614843/233/2337.009.2524.0000
Graeme Craig Smith

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Photos of Graeme Smith

The six SA20 team captains and league commissioner Graeme Smith pose with the trophy
Dean Elgar, ahead of his final Test, reunites with Graeme Smith
Graeme Smith clicked ahead of the game
SA20 league commissioner Graeme Smith and team captains attend a press conference
[L to r} Mark Boucher, Yuvraj Singh, Graeme Smith and Anil Kumble at an SA20 launch event
Graeme Smith appears pleased with proceedings at the Dimension Data Pro-Am golf tournament