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South Africa
Tour Sri Lanka - 2004 |
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icricketer.com > Series >
South Africa Tour Sri
Lanka - 2004 > News
South Africans just leave it
to Smith
COLOMBO: Graeme Smith's arrival as captain of South Africa could not
have come at a worse time for the team. Their inglorious exit from
the World Cup, and the consequent quitting of Shaun Pollock as
skipper had left the side in a turmoil, and things looked bleak.
It is not an easy stage for making a debut as captain, but Smith
took it up with aplomb.
He is leading the side in Sri Lanka for a two-Test series, the
beginning of a long year, which will take the team to the ICC
Champions Trophy in England, and then to India.
Smith's style of captaincy is from the old school — he likes to lead
from the front. And how he did it! Two double hundreds against
England in a Test series last year brought him within shouting
distance of Don Bradman's record of three double-centuries on the
trot. While he missed that, 600-plus runs in two Tests was something
amazing.
"It's certainly been a good, interesting year," Smith said. "We
certainly had some good highs, some good moments, and also some
moments we can really look at and worked on as a team.
“When I started as captain, the team had just finished the World Cup
where we didn't do too well. We started at rock bottom and slowly
worked our way up to where we should be. We realise it is going to
be a tough year, first up, especially the first six months. We have
a few big, big tours and we are definitely looking forward to it. If
we work hard and get one or two things right, we can be up there
with the powerful sides again, performing day after day."
On that list of doing well would be the tour of India at the end of
this year. "We have to look at India's results at home to see how
tough that tour's going to be," Smith says.
"I mean, not many teams go there and beat them. So we are aware of
the fact that is going to be tough. But by the time it comes around,
we would hope we would have done well here (in Sri Lanka) and take
the confidence from here to India.
"We would go there believing we are going to win, otherwise why
would we go there? We certainly believe in our ability to beat India
at home."
Captaining at the age of 22 is not something that comes easy, but
Smith has taken to it well.
"Captaining any country, no matter what your age is, is going to
have its tough moments. I certainly would not have taken the job if
I didn't believe that I could do something for South African
cricket. I believed I could do something great with this team and be
part of something great.
"Having a good bunch of senior experienced guys around definitely
makes life a lot easier. I've got a lot of great talent around and
its just matter of harnessing it and working on one or two things.
"Not every team's going to be perfect, but I feel like we close to
getting things right, and it would be nice to start here in Sri
Lanka."
Not long after Smith took over as captain, he had gone on record
against fiery all-rounder Lance Klusener, and was equally effusive
when the player returned to the side.
"Lance has been amazing. It's amazing to watch the way he has turned
himself around, he has definitely set a great example for any
youngster coming around in South Africa," Smith says, asked about
his change of heart.
"Any guy involved in our set-up right now shows how much he want to
play for the country and that's been outstanding. Lance performed
well in domestic cricket and he was picked again for the national
side and he is certainly going to be a great asset to us on this
tour."
But as we all know, South Africa lose more matches in the mind than
on the field. "There have been a number of times when we fell on the
wrong side of 50-50 battles last season," Smith agrees.
"We could really have had a really good ratio at the end of the
season but in a number of games at the crunch moments, the pressure
moments, we let ourselves go.
"We had a really good training camp in the winter and we talked
about this. But we are certainly not going to turn it around in a
day. Is going to take time to get things right but the guys are
aware of it and have taken the first big step and every time you are
in a pressure situation and every time you do well in such a
situation, it gives you confidence. There are going to be tough
situations in this tour and hopefully we can do well in those
situations."
GRAEME SMITH: THE EARLY DAYS
* The South African skipper is the youngest to lead his country in
Tests.
* His average is 58.67, the best in the world currently.
* He is the only player to score his first four centuries with 150
plus scores.
* He has captained SA in 16 Tests, won 8, lost 4, drawn 4.
* In the 2003 series against England in England he scored 714 runs
at an average of 79.33 with two double centuries.
* He is involved in three, 300-plus partnerships with Gibbs for the
first wicket.
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