Graeme Smith retires

[lemmon]

Graeme Smith has announced this will be his last test ending a 12 year career as the second highest South African run scorer and their most successful captain. He has been a great player and leaves a massive hole at the top of the order, they have a few successors ready in terms of the captaincy but it's going to be hard to replace the aura he brought to any open partnership.

Congratulations to one of the most dogged cricketers I've seen, was always an aggressive competitor and to succeed with the technique he has says a lot about his strength of mind.

Tests:
116 matches
9257 runs at 48.72 with 27 hundreds
Test crickets longest serving captain having been appointed at 22
Led SA to number 1 in the world rankings and the widely acclaimed best team in the world following success in Australia in 2008

ODIs:
197 matches
6989 runs at 37.98

T20s:
33 matches
982 runs at 31.67

[bulldogtragic]

Re: Graeme Smith retires

Two massive holes in their top order. I've always liked him, but moreover respected him. That's a fantastic career, would have been iconic for he and Jacques to go together.

[Remi Moses]

Re: Graeme Smith retires

Strange decision halfway through a test.
Pretty good average,in particular as an opener.
Captained a very good team, but a little to negative as captain.
Good competitor

[Greystache]

Re: Graeme Smith retires

Two big holes to fill for a team that may well have self-doubts should they lose this current series. I can see this being the end of an era for SA.

Australia is fast becoming the team to end careers.

[lemmon]

Re: Graeme Smith retires

Two big holes to fill for a team that may well have self-doubts should they lose this current series. I can see this being the end of an era for SA.

Australia is fast becoming the team to end careers.

I still think they have a lot of talent, two best batsman in the world and it's a good time to bring in De Kock who has a heap of promise while Du Plessis has fitted in seamlessly and has that really combative temperament. De Villiers, Amla, Steyn, Morkel and Philander all have 3+ years left, while sitting below them guys like Parnell, De Lange, Obus Pienaar, David Miller just to name a few have a heap of talent.

They've just come off a win in the U/19 world cup so the talent pathways look good, Smith is a loss but their core group is still young and the underlying talent is very promising

[Go_Dogs]

Re: Graeme Smith retires

Australia is fast becoming the team to end careers.

Was just saying this to a mate earlier. Nice thing to be known for.

[Sedat]

Re: Graeme Smith retires

They've just come off a win in the U/19 world cup so the talent pathways look good, Smith is a loss but their core group is still young and the underlying talent is very promising

That's only good news for England

[comrade]

Re: Graeme Smith retires

That's only good news for England

How do I like a post with this new fandangled system?

[westdog54]

Re: Graeme Smith retires

I don't think there's a non-Australian cricketer I've respected more than Graeme Smith in the last 10 years. Love the way he has gone about it, both with the way he's played the game and how he's handled himself and his team in the media. Great cricketer.

[westdog54]

Re: Graeme Smith retires

How do I like a post with this new fandangled system?

Click the 'like this post' button below the post.

[GVGjr]

Re: Graeme Smith retires

Click the 'like this post' button below the post.

It's not switched on yet. I've been waiting for the final upgrade to switch on some new features.