Cricinfo - Players and Officials

Full name Graeme Craig Smith
Born February 1, 1981, Johannesburg, Transvaal
Current age 27 years 107 days
Major teams South Africa, Africa XI, Cape Cobras, Gauteng, Hampshire Cricket Board, ICC World XI, Rajasthan Royals, Somerset, Western Province
Batting style Left-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm offbreak

Batting and fielding averages
	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct
Tests	66	116	5	5392	277	48.57	8784	61.38	14	22	712	17	83
ODIs	133	131	9	5016	134*	41.11	6132	81.80	7	36	586	31	71
T20Is	12	12	2	364	89*	36.40	286	127.27	0	3	52	7	8
First-class	101	176	10	8221	311	49.52			22	31			137
List A	185	182	14	7178	134*	42.72			11	54			98
Twenty20	35	35	5	1125	105	37.50	877	128.27	1	7	138	24	18

Bowling averages
	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w
Tests	66	32	1319	801	8	2/145	2/145	100.12	3.64	164.8	0
ODIs	133	43	1026	951	18	3/30	3/30	52.83	5.56	57.0	0
T20Is	12	3	24	57	0	-	-	-	14.25	-	0
First-class	101		1687	1048	11	2/145		95.27	3.72	153.3
List A	185		1968	1796	47	3/30	3/30	38.21	5.47	41.8	0
Twenty20	35	7	96	148	4	3/23	3/23	37.00	9.25	24.0	0

Career statistics
Test debut	South Africa v Australia at Cape Town, Mar 8-12, 2002 scorecard
Last Test	India v South Africa at Kanpur, Apr 11-13, 2008 scorecard
Test statistics
ODI debut	South Africa v Australia at Bloemfontein, Mar 30, 2002 scorecard
Last ODI	Bangladesh v South Africa at Dhaka (SBNS), Mar 14, 2008 scorecard
ODI statistics
T20I debut	South Africa v New Zealand at Johannesburg, Oct 21, 2005 scorecard
Last T20I	South Africa v West Indies at Johannesburg, Jan 18, 2008 scorecard
T20I statistics
First-class debut	1999/00
Last First-class	India v South Africa at Kanpur, Apr 11-13, 2008 scorecard
List A debut	1999/00
Last List A	Bangladesh v South Africa at Dhaka (SBNS), Mar 14, 2008 scorecard
Twenty20 debut	Western Province Boland v Dolphins at Cape Town, Apr 7, 2004 scorecard
Last Twenty20	Rajasthan Royals v Bangalore Royal Challengers at Jaipur, May 17, 2008 scorecard

Profile

In March 2003, at the age of 22, Graeme Smith became South Africa's youngest-ever captain, when he took over from Shaun Pollock following the disastrous World Cup campaign. A tall aggressive left-hand opener, Smith had few leadership credentials - and barely a handful of internationals under his belt - but for a nation eager for a fresh start after the disasters of the Hansie Cronje affair, Smith was clearly made of the right stuff. The selectors' faith was amply justified on South Africa's tour of England in 2003, when Smith scored back-to-back Test double-centuries - a national-record 277 at Edgbaston, and a match-winning 259 at Lord's - to put his side in firm command of the five-Test series. Smith had quickly settled in at the highest level, right from the moment he took Matthew Hayden's invective on the chin to score a battling half-century on his Test debut. Until his appointment, Smith's career had been hampered to a certain degree by South Africa's controversial quota system. His Test debut was delayed when Ashwell Prince was selected for the first Test against Australia in 2001-02, and he also missed out on original selection for the 2003 World Cup, although he later joined the squad when Jonty Rhodes cracked a finger.

Smith woke up to the harsh life of international cricket with a jolt in 2004. Reality bit fiercest on the subcontinent, where a declining South African side lost Test series to India and Sri Lanka. There was also a run of 11 defeats in 12 one-day internationals, the start of an ultimately fruitless struggle with England, and personal humiliation after some wily mind games from Stephen Fleming in Auckland. Yet for the most part, Smith continued to crunch runs aplenty. There was one minor epic: an unbeaten 125 to square the series in New Zealand that was made of granite. Smith yielded to no man physically, but he could be brought to his knees by more insidious means. By the end of the year, as Matthew Hoggard's in-swinger had him fumbling around his front pad time after time, even the runs had started to dry up. But he roared back to form in the series against West Indies in 2005, when he piled on three consecutive hundreds, and became the first captain since 1977 to finish a Caribbean tour without losing a game.

He captained South Africa to a thrilling 3-2 one-day series win over Australia at home in perhaps the greatest cracker of all. In a record-breaking contest between bat and ball, Smith powered his side's reply to Australia's 434 for 4 by hitting 90 from 55 and adding 187 for the second wicket with Herschelle Gibbs in just 20.1 overs. South Africa eventually won the match in 49.1 overs and Smith had a suitable boost going into the three-Test series. Torn ligaments in his right ankle, sustained during a running injury in Knysna, ruled Smith out for 12 weeks but he was retained as South Africa's captain for the Champions Trophy in India. Scores of 5 and 10 in the first Test loss against India at Johannesburg took his tally for the last ten Tests to 465 at 24.47, with just two half-centuries in 19 innings, but Smith bounced back hard with three consecutive fifties to take South Africa to a come-from-behind series win. In the series against Pakistan right after that, Smith struggled for runs, but crafted a crucial 64 at Cape Town that was worth a century. He hit two half-centuries in a 3-1 rout of Pakistan in the one-day leg of the series. In his first World Cup, Smith captained South Africa to the semis, where they were brutally hammered by eventual winners Australia. Personally, Smith had a good tournament, with 443 runs. After leading South Africa to a 2-0 Test-series rout against the touring New Zealanders, his side fashioned another come-from-behind series win against West Indies. On the tour of Bangladesh that followed, he entered the record books with an opening stand of 415 with Neil McKenzie during the second Test in Chittagong.
Andrew Miller/Jamie Alter May 2007