Sunday Times
TELFORD VICE, Cape Town
Graeme Smith defined SA’s test team. He had commanding physical presence and loomed even larger in the minds of friend and foe alike to the extent that the game in this country can be divided into two eras - Before Smith (BS) and After Smith (AS).
Kepler Wessels, Hansie Cronje, and Shaun Pollock - Smith’s predecessors as SA captains since re-admission in 1991 - were strong leaders who moved SA cricket forward. But none made the impact Smith made, not least because he was in the position for almost 11 years and had more world class players at his disposal.
Unquestionably, Smith leaves SA cricket a better place than it was when they found each other. We analyse BS versus AS.
Captaincy
BS - Wessels ensured a game could not be lost before he tried to win it. Cronje preferred getting the job done himself to delegation. Pollock had enough to think about as the premier allrounder, so he delegated.
AS - When Smith was in charge, no-one was in any doubt who SA’s captain was. He was a big kid when he arrived in 2003, but he grew up the instant he stepped into the dressingroom. He had to if his personality wasn’t to be eaten alive by figures as established as Mark Boucher and Jacques Kallis, and Pollock was still around. SA’s next captain will have it easy by comparison, but he will have to fill big boots.
“Graeme quickly became the heartbeat of the team,” former SA coach Eric Simons said. “He made people believe in themselves because of the way he believed in them and the way he believed in himself. Whether he has left an influence that will last as opposed to the presence he had when he was there remains to be seen.”
Confidence
BS - South Africans can’t help measuring the strength of their team against Australia. In their first eight series since re-admission, comprising 24 matches, all SA had to show for their efforts was three test wins and two drawn rubbers. The big brothers were too big and powerful.
AS - Then, in March 2009, SA beat Australia in Australia. Smith romanced cricket itself when he defied doctor’s orders and batted with a broken hand to try and save the Sydney test. By then, the war of the series had been won. But the battle of the match was still alive, and Smith knew no other way than to keep fighting. Nothing could top that. Except that SA won in Australia again in November 2012. Beyond the basics of playing proper cricket to a superlative standard, that takes confidence. Even when the wheels came off, like they did in Centurion against the Aussies this time, the dream does not become a nightmare - victory was a game away in Port Elizabeth. Maintaining that Smithsonian confidence will be key.
“We spend an awful lot of money in sport trying to give people the confidence to believe they can accomplish something, but when someone arrives and we ask them, ‘Can you do this?’ and they say, ‘Yes’ we call them arrogant,” Simons said. “We want people to believe they can do it, but please don’t say so.”
Opening the batting
BS - Wessels or Gary Kirsten could bat for days. Andrew Hudson could play the prettiest strokes imaginable, and find the weirdest ways imaginable to get out. Herschelle Gibbs could open the batting while ice-skating. Backwards. Which is why he would sometimes play too big a role in his own dismissal. Gibbs could put any attack to rights, but often not for long enough to make it count as much as it could have.
AS - Smith, in form, could dominate for days, like he did to score back-to-back double centuries in England in 2003. Those performances put a lid on doubts over his lack of experience. But, with Alviro Petersen’s place in the XI not at all certain and Dean Elgar having had the contractual rug pulled from under his feet and then put back when Smith retired, SA aren’t sure where their next test opener - or even two of of them - will come from. Unless, of course, one of them is Quinton de Kock.
“They’re clearly going to pick Dean Elgar and give him a run,” former SA opener Jimmy Cook said. “But we are going into a transition period, especially in the batting department.”
The ones that got away
BS - Every four years, South Africans send their team to the World Cup on the wings of hope and then watch those wings turn to molten wax. That was as true whether Smith or anyone else was in charge.
AS - Who knows? Will SA ever win a World Cup? Are they closer than they once were?
“While Graeme has been captain, we’ve taken massive steps towards that goal,” Cook said. “But we’re going to be hard-pressed to match the standard that has been set.”
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