Graeme Smith - The tale of awkward stance and unparalleled courage!

Left-handed batsmen come across as naturally elegant and graceful. Even a mediocre shot played by a left hander appears charming. They are God’s gift to cricket. Yet, there exist some unusual and queer south-paws who have made a mess of these adjectives, defining themselves in a completely unique fashion. The duo of Shiv Chanderpaul and Simon Katich, for example, imparted an innovation which passed the litmus test under all conditions and almost against any kind of bowlers.

The ungainly stance that discloses his preference to play more on the leg-side, the intense concentration before every ball that helps focus the task at hand and the almost non-existent foot movement to encounter the incoming cherry seldom signifies his extraordinary potential and the aura he brings along with himself to the game. Graeme Smith, the long standing skipper of South Africa, is an enigma.

It would be an understatement to say that his career has been a path of thorns. Having been made the skipper while he was still green at the international stage, critics expected Smith to falter or wanted Smith to fail for the kind of attitude he possessed. Smith was indeed arrogant and straight-forward; but that held him steady in the controversy-filled South African side.

“Talent is a god-given gift but Perseverance is what will take us through the tough times!”

Smith had a fluent start to captaincy after comfortably bagging the series against Bangladesh. His first major assignment, though, was a bit critical for a team that was rebuilding. Graeme Smith had to lead his men in a series against England – who were looking to take advantage of South Africa’s inexperience and ageing seniors.

People have discussed Smith’s extraordinary leading skills to such an extent that they have forgotten his impact as a fine opening batsman. He has lent depth to the South African batting unit. He is competent and has got the credentials to walk into any team purely as a batsman. Back to the England series; the English were complacent about this young skipper and he made them pay in runs. Smith plundered the English bowlers for a career best 277 at Edgbaston and followed it up with an exhilarating 259 at Lord’s to take them 2-0 up in the series.

Smith’s has got a merry record of ousting three different skippers in three tours to England. The first one on the list was Nasser Hussain. Hussain made the mistake of taking Graeme Smith – the batsman – for granted. By the end of the second Test, he was thoroughly repenting it and couldn’t face the oncoming force of Smith’s batting. Though Smith had to settle for draw against a resurgent English side, it was a beginning of sorts for the young man to grow and mature.

“A journey of thousand miles begins with a single step” – Lao Tzu

It was a roller-coaster ride from there on and Smith was not having the best of times as a skipper as South Africa‘s inconsistency was criticized heavily. Yet, he prevailed and engineered his team from the scratch. The men were his responsibility and the effort was incalculable. He confided in his players and awarded them for their performances. To cut it short, he was the Godfather of South African cricket and was anchoring the team in the right direction one step at a time.

The losses at the hands of Australia in the year 2006 hurt him the most. Humiliated, Smith vowed vengeance and his ultimate goal was to conquer the Oz. But the receding pace attack with a squandering batting unit made it quite impossible until the emergence of Hashim Amla, AB De Villiers and Dale Steyn as the able successors to the legendary team that consisted of Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock and Lance Klusener among others. Comparisons were made; South Africa toured Australia yet again in the year 2008 after successfully sending off Michael Vaughan in England only a few days back. Two down! It was considered as the final frontier since no team has managed to defeat Australia in Australia for over a decade.

Equations were drawn and the series was considered as the power struggle between the two heavy-weights. The first Test saw history being created by South Africa in the fourth innings. They chased down a mammoth total of 414 runs, thanks to a brilliant century from Smith and some able contributions from the top order.

South Africa should consider them lucky and blessed to win the second Test match. Having lost seven wickets for fewer than 170 runs, the chances of victory looked bleak. But a rookie JP Duminy defied the Aussies and he, along with Dale Steyn, kept them in the hunt and created a vital partnership to set the match up for the Proteas. The rest, as they say, is history!

South African captain Graeme Smith walks off the field with the ICC Test Championship mace after winning the series during day four of the Third Test Match between Australia and South Africa

The depth of Smith’s character and his dedication to the team’s cause was put to test on the final day of the third Test. Australia finally found their way back into the series and were about to wrap the third test. The matter of consequence was the coveted first rank that South Africa could earn if they managed to draw the match. They were tottering and well on their way to lose the match.

Mitchell Johnson got a fiery length ball to bounce up to Smith’s hand and it fractured the bone. Injured Graeme Smith walked into bat with a broken hand. The people present in the stadium were awestruck to see the level of commitment from this man who wanted the best for his team. He received a standing ovation in what is considered one of the most emotional moments in the history of cricket.

After that it was a fairy tale ride barring the occasional glitches and hiccups they had to go through as a team. Smith kept scoring and the victories kept coming. He has some honourable records of escaping India without a series defeat twice in a row. He went back to England one more time, and now it was Andrew Strauss who ‘retired’, unable to bear the heat of the Proteas. That rounds up the number three!

“You could fail as a batsman, it’d be called as lack of form but if you fail as a leader you lose respect!”

Ask any skipper about leading a side and they’d say that it is the toughest job around. It was never a walk in the park for the man. He had to bear the humiliation of not managing to win any major titles, yet he held his head high and went about doing what he knows best.

There might be many cricketers who could play after him, skipper “his” team, but no one could match his cricketing brain. Playing for a hundred Tests is deemed as an honour; it shows that the player is talented enough to represent the nation for that many years. But Smith went one step ahead and lead the team along with him for a hundred Tests, a feat unparalleled and unheard of in the history of cricket and though he is not the skipper of the limited overs team any more, the previous successes and the current position was the fruit of his hard work.

Much like our Bengal tiger, he is a fighter; a man who would never say never. Graeme Smith may not be the conventional hero for a mundane cricket fan, but an artist who has scripted his way to stardom without any fuss. Captaining South Africa for a hundredth time would be a very special occasion to him and he would want to remember that for a long time by marking it with a win. His boys are on the track and it is going to be a one hell of a Test match.