Graeme Smith

Smith and Kallis signed collaborations with MCW as the official cricket ambassadors in September 2022.

Graeme Smith is powerful and strong, but as South Africa’s captain, he looms even larger than all of that. Former cricket player for South Africa in all forms and South African cricket commentator. Shaun Pollock was replaced as captain of the national team by him in 2003.

While his batsmanship accomplishments are noteworthy, Smith’s career is best remembered for the fact that he helped restore South Africans’ confidence, both inside and outside of the country’s national team and its institutions.

Directness and upfrontness are the cornerstones of both Smith’s leadership and his batting. The complexities of captaincy have become second nature to him, yet he still feels most at ease charging back into the fray while casting a quick peek behind him to see if his troops are following.

When he participated in his (personally not captained) 102nd test against England, he held the record for most appearances as a captain. Having led South Africa to a record 54 test victories, he is regarded as one of the greatest test captains of all time. Under his leadership, South Africa was frequently referred to as the best touring team in the world.

Smith, a left-handed opening batter who is tall, is one of the best openers in history. He scored two double hundreds in back-to-back Test matches while South Africa was touring England in 2003: 277 at Edgbaston and 259 at Lord’s. The highest score recorded by a foreign player at this illustrious site is still his 259 at Lord’s. In his 112th test match, on October 24, 2013, Smith became the second South African and the 12th overall to reach 9,000 runs in test cricket.

It is hard to hold Smith accountable for going his own route. He was, after all, given the captain’s chair at the age of 22, making him his nation’s youngest captain, and given the job of restoring South Africans’ faith in the fairness of the game itself. Hansie Cronje’s wicked avarice had broken that priceless diamond, and Shaun Pollock’s honest but non-demonstrative leadership had not fully repaired it. Smith’s double centuries in his third and fourth Tests as captain in England in 2003—his 11th and 12th overall—provided a solid justification for sticking with his blatantly forthright method of getting the job done.

He was also Surrey’s English team captain and an international player. On July 19, 2012, he participated in his 100th Test against England. On his 32nd birthday, he led his 100th Test match of his career against Pakistan on February 1, 2013. He is the only athlete to have led a team in 100 Test matches.