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NEWS India-South Africa Series 2006>The able leadership of Graeme Smith 13th Nov 2006 22.19 IST By Manish Kumar In Graeme Smith , South Africa has a ruthless and an able leader. At the age of 22, Smith became the youngest ever cricketer to captain the South African team when he was selected to take over from Shaun Maclean Pollock following the disastrous 2003 World Cup campaign.
Smith was made captain under tumultuous circumstances – South Africa was eager for a fresh start after the Hansie Cronje match fixing scandal and a disastrous 2003 World Cup campaign at home under Pollock. Smith proved the selectors right in the tour of England in 2003 when he made double centuries in consecutive Test matches: a national record of 277 at Edgbaston, and 259 at Lord's. Smith’s score of 259 at Lord's is, the highest score at the ground by a foreign player. The previous record was 254 by Sir Donald Bradman. These performances prompted Alec Stewart to call him "the most impressive 22-year-old I have seen in cricket". Smith has earned a reputation as a hard-edged cricketer with a penchant for stating his mind and a tendency towards arrogance. Although this is more confidence than anything and he plays the game with a lot of passion. In 2004, Smith led South Africa to a run of 11 defeats in 12 one-day internationals but in 2005, he hit back by leading his team to 17 consecutive undefeated matches in one-day internationals. Despite receiving much criticism when he was initially chosen to captain South Africa, Smith has since earned the respect and recognition of the international cricketing community. This was evident when Smith was selected to captain the ICC World XI in the ICC Super Series Test Match between the ICC World XI and Australia in October 2005. Smith also captained South Africa in perhaps the greatest one-dayer ever with a prolific win over Australia at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, on March 12, 2006. South Africa beat Australia by achieving the highest score ever recorded in an ODI, 438/9. Smith played a vital role in setting up the victory by scoring a blazing 90 runs off only 55 balls and was involved in a second wicket partnership of 187 runs with Herschelle Gibbs . Smith is the first captain since 1977 to finish a West Indian tour without losing a game and on that tour he piled on three consecutive hundreds. As a batsman, Smith has a distinctive stance, and tends to play a lot of deliveries to leg with a strong bottom hand. When bowlers are foolish enough to bowl to his strengths, he can be devastating. Deliveries full and angled across outside off stump, on the other hand, has caused Smith some problems, and his occasionally ponderous foot movement has left him susceptible to the inswinger. At the age of 25 which was once considered a decent age for a player to make his Test debut, Smith has already played 48 Tests, almost double that number of ODIs, scored more than 7000 international runs and made a name for himself as a captain who leads very much from the front. Rahul Dravid & co. have a tough assignment on their hands. Also View In-Depth Coverage: India-South Africa Series 2006 Team Page: India Team Page: South Africa | LIVE CRICKET COVERAGE NEWS ~ Gilchrist has no plans to retire after World Cup ~ Ganguly's new batting approach may cost him sixer record ~ India 'squash the Orange' in World Cup warm-up game ~ Symonds gets a new hairdo for World Cup ~ Dhoni readies himself for stand-up act at World Cup (more in NEWS) FACE-TO-FACE ~ 500-mark a possibility in World Cup: Hayden ~ Minnows add charm to World Cup: Dravid (more in FACE-TO-FACE) COLUMNS ~ Will Sri Lanka replicate 1996 World Cup success? (more in COLUMNS) OFF-THE-FIELD ~ Ganguly again the darling of corporate world ~ Ganguly roped in as brand ambassador of Puma (more in OFF-THE-FIELD) PLAYERS Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble (more PLAYERS) TEAMS India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, West Indies, Zimbabwe, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Kenya, Holland | 
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