Graeme Smith
Graeme Smith
Graeme Craig Smithis a former South African cricketer and former captain of the South African cricket team Test side, having succeeded Shaun Pollock after the 2003 Cricket World Cup. He was succeeded as captain of the ODI side by AB de Villiers after the 2011 Cricket World Cup. He is also currently the overseas player and captain of English side Surrey. He appeared in his 100th Test against England on 19 July 2012. He captained his 100th career Test match...
ProfessionCricket Player
Date of Birth1 February 1981
backed batting chunk gone order ourselves top twice
We thought after having gone through their top order twice in Centurion and with the moisture in the wicket here, we backed ourselves to get a big chunk in their batting order.
backed batting bowlers chunk created gamble hours paid three
We backed our bowlers to take a big chunk out of their batting order, and in the first two or three hours we created a lot of chances. But I would have to say the gamble hasn't paid off.
batting bowling gives jacques somewhere stability
Obviously, Jacques gives us another bowling option, and he'll (also) give us a lot of stability somewhere in the batting order.
batting came cricket drawing minds moving needs negative option positive team teams
The whole team wanted to be positive and wanted to go for a win. Cricket needs positive games. It doesn't need teams batting out and drawing games. For us, as a team moving forward, we're young and we need to be positive. To set a declaration and to try to go for a win was in our minds the only way to play. The negative option never came in.
batting cricket drawing itself morning needs positive team teams
Everyone in the whole team wanted to be positive this morning and go for a win. Cricket itself needs positive games. It doesn't need teams batting out and drawing games.
batting focus helps hoping medical rather second staff until waited
Sometimes, when you're batting with an injury, it helps you to focus your mind, and I'm hoping that will be the case. The medical staff would rather I waited until the second Test, but I really want to get out there and play.
against batting difficult fact game knew last lost middle
Definitely. We're not disappointed with the fact that we got bowled out in the last innings, the disappointing thing for us is that we had opportunities but didn't take them. We always knew that batting last against the two spinners would be difficult but it was in the middle of the game that we lost it.
players rest
The players really long for a rest of only 10 days.
difficult doubt tour
This tour was without doubt the most difficult one of my life.
advice decision decisions doubts good hard maybe offering pressure puts undermines
I don't think he undermines his effectiveness but I think he puts him under a lot of pressure when it comes to decision making and maybe he doubts his own decisions sometimes because Shane is offering so much advice all the time. It's hard to sift through what is good and what is not good, at times.
best performance team
This was probably the best team performance in one-day internationals under my captaincy,
australia credit cricket days nine test took win
What's disappointing is that we had opportunities to win the game. But their batsmen made the most of their opportunities and credit to them. It took nine days of Test cricket for someone to really win a day. And that was yesterday, which Australia won.
win
What's disappointing is that we had opportunities to win the game.
capable knew looked win
We always knew we were capable of this. We have looked to become more aggressive, and that's the way we will need to be if we want to win the World Cup.