Having reached the summit of the Test cricket rankings by thoroughly outplaying England in three matches that flew largely under the radar due to events in east London, South Africa continue their tour as summer winds down with some one-day cricket. They are pretty handy at this form of the sport, too, and can be expected to end England’s unbeaten run, which stands at ten games, over the course of the five-match series.
Both teams will change personnel for the series but perhaps the most significant difference in the South African dressing room will be that Graeme Smith won’t be the captain. Smith stepped aside after the World Cup last year but remains in the 50-over side as a ‘senior player’, something he admits he found ‘incredibly difficult’.
Because Graeme Smith, as he will tell you himself, is always the captain. When he briefly joined Somerset in 2005 and was asked to take charge of the side he paused for a second and said: ‘Well, OK, I’m usually captain of any team I play in.’ He took over as captain of the South Africa Test team in 2003 when he was only 22 and has been in charge ever since, leading his team with lantern-jawed authority in a record 94 Tests, with more to come. I know this because on the 2003 tour here he did a revealing interview with Mike Brearley, who knows a thing or two about leadership.
Over dinner and fresh from back-to-back double hundreds, Smith said he saw himself ‘ideally, retiring after 14 years as captain, with a bit of education behind me, and going into a good job. I can also imagine one day sitting at home in my slippers watching TV, with my family all around me and maybe a little bit of a stomach.’
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