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Graeme Smith, South Africa’s most successful captain, is now the commissioner of the inaugural SA20, where the IPL franchisees are owners of all six teams. Smith expressed his interest in having Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the SA20 league as soon as he is done playing in the IPL. Currently, Dhoni is playing in the IPL, and according to its rules, he is not eligible in overseas leagues at this moment. However, Smith has indicated that he will reach out to this World Cup-winning captain at the slightest opportunity.
Here let us know a little more about this Proteas legend, Graeme Smith.
Graeme Craig Smith, who was born on 1st February 1981, was a hard-hitting left-handed batsman. In fact, he was nicknamed ‘Biff’ due to his ability to smash the ball over the boundaries. He replaced Shaun Pollock as the captain of the Proteas team at the age of 22, making him the youngest South African captain.
After Hansie Cronje’s match-fixing scandal, he had to restore the countrymen's faith in the integrity of the sport and the players. Thus, he immediately set out to rebuild his team. He came into the limelight during the South African tour of England in 2003. In that test, he made consecutive double centuries. In fact, his 259 has become the highest score by a foreigner in the Lord's stadium.
Smith had always been a strong and aggressive captain who led his team by example. Under his captaincy, the South African team led the South African team to a famous test series win in Australia during the 2008-09 season. This feat was repeated in the 2012-13 tour of Australia.
The South African team under him also crushed England's No. 1 Test team and grabbed the position for themselves. In fact, Graeme Smith became the most successful Test captain of all time after grabbing his 49th test win by defeating the Pakistan team in Cape Town. Thus, he surpassed Ricky Ponting, who had 48 test victories as captain for the Aussies.
Graeme Smith played a total of 117 matches, where he scored a total of 9265 runs. His highest test score was 277 against England in 2003. He has an average of 47.76 with a strike rate of 59.68. He made 27 test centuries, 5 double centuries and 38 half-centuries.
Amongst a total of 197 ODI matches, Smith made 6989 runs in total, with an average of 37.78 and a strike rate of 80.82. Graeme Smith’s ODI highest score was 141. He made 47 half-centuries and 10 centuries in his ODI career. In his T20 International career, he had 982 runs in 33 matches. He also played in 29 IPL matches and made 739 runs.
Graeme Smith was also an excellent right-arm off-break bowler. In Tests, Smith bowled a total of 1418 balls and took 8 wickets. In ODIs, he bowled 1026 balls and took 18 wickets. His best bowling streak was 3 wickets for just 30 runs in ODIs.
Graeme Smith retired from International ODI cricket in 2011 and from Test cricket and other international formats in March 2014. Since then, he has been with his fans as a television commentator. He is also in the inaugural SA20 as the commissioner. His interest in MS Dhoni might be fruitful when Dhoni quits the IPL.
FAQs
Who is Graeme Smith’s wife?
Graeme Smith’s first wife was Irish pop singer Morgan Deane, from whom he got separated. He again got engaged to Romy Lanfranchi in 2018. He married her on 2 November 2018.
What is Graeme Smith’s net worth?
Graeme Smith’s net worth is reportedly over 20 million dollars.
When did Graeme Smith become captain?
Graeme Smith took over the captainship of the South African team from Shaun Pollock in 2003 at the age of 22 years.
