 Graeme Smith - one of the best young captains in world cricket?
19th Mar 2008 23:00 IST
Manish Kumar
Cricket South Africa has lauded the 27-year-old Graeme Smith as “among the best young captains in world cricket” - a statement that came just a day after his former coach, Ray Jennings, said that there were better captains to lead South Africa.
Smith replaced India’s Sachin Tendulkar at the top of the world one-day batting rankings last week and with him South Africa also rose to being the No 1 side in world cricket, overtaking Australia when they achieved a 3-0 sweep of Bangladesh in the one-day series.
The International Cricket Council rankings for the year close on April 1 and South Africa cannot now be displaced from their top position.
The Proteas will finish the cricket year having lost twice to Australia and having not played India, the current form team along with the South Africans.
Nevertheless, the Proteas will win the prize of R1.4-million ($175 000) for finishing top of the log - a major boost for South Africa just before the Test series against India.
Smith became the youngest ever player to captain the South African cricket team at the age of 22 years when he was selected to take over from Shaun Pollock after the 2003 Cricket World Cup.
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