In The Dark Knight Commissioner Jim Gordon describes Batman as the hero Gotham City needs but not the one the city deserves. In 2003 Graeme Smith became the captain South African cricket needed but by 2014 it was evident Smith was the skipper the country did not deserve. Biff stepped in in the aftermath of the Proteas’s embarrassing 2003 Cricket World Cup exit and the public’s trust in the sport was still shaky just three years after the Hansie Cronje debacle.
Graeme Smith retires as the greatest captain in the history of South African cricket. It comes across as a subjective statement but no one can argue with Smith’s record. The 33-year old played 117 Tests, a world record 109 as captain, and finished with 9 265 runs. Only India’s Sunil Gavaskar has scored more runs opening the batting. By November 2010 Smith had surpassed Gary Kirsten’s 7 289 runs to become South Africa’s second-highest run scorer in Tests behind Jacques Kallis. None of his 27 Test centuries came in a defeat which is a testimony to the way Smith led from the front.
Smith first made a name for himself with back-to-back double hundreds on the 2003 tour to England, including a then national record 277. His 259 at Lord’s remains the highest score by an international player at the home of cricket. Nasser Hussain, who had earlier on the tour introduced Smith to a match referee as ‘Greg’ even stepped down as England skipper following the heavy defeat at Lord’s. Five years later, the South African captain hit a series-winning ton at Edgbaston that saw another English captain, Michael Vaughan, call it a day.
Later that year a century in Perth at the WACA led South Africa to a successful 414-run chase to achieve a Test win that set up a series win Down Under. The captain endeared himself to the supporters by coming out to bat with a broken hand in Sydney even though the series had already been won. Smith’s Proteas were the first from South Africa to win a series in Australia and just for good measure his troops emulated that feat four years later. No other SA skipper has led his men to back-to-back Test series victories in England AND Australia. Oh and of course, Andrew Strauss was the next English leader casualty on that 2012 tour.
Smith formed a formidable opening partnership with Herschelle Gibbs. The pair put on 368 against Pakistan at Newlands in January 2003. Just over a year later they put on their third 300-run opening stand. After Gibbs departed the captain hooked up with Neil McKenzie and put on a world-record opening stand of 415 against Bangladesh in Chittagong in 2008.
Though his final series against Australia ended in defeat, Smith leaves his side at the top of the world rankings. The Proteas have not lost a series away from home in eight years and the loss to Australia is only their second in 26 overall.
Whenever the naysayers comment on Smith’s lower scores with comments such as, “Oh, Smith is out again”, I wonder what they’ll miss most. Will it be his 27 Test tons; including five double centuries, or his 38 Fifties, or the back-to-back series wins in Australia, or the back-to-back series wins in England, or the fact that whenever the captain scored a century his team never lost. Smith is indeed the captain South Africa needed but clearly not the one the country deserved.