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
definitely five four months takes
To play someone for four or five months definitely takes its toll, it's like Groundhog Day some times.
both brought decide whether
We need to look at the wicket. We brought him out as an option. We need to decide which way to go. Whether to play Nicky or him, or both of them.
doubt seriously
I seriously doubt we will go in with two spinners.
exploit great
It would be great if we could exploit that.
It would pretty much look like he's going home.
best bit close finish hard hitting hurt mark matched pick playing positive step teams
The teams are matched up pretty well. If anything, we need to pick it up a step in our ruthlessness on the field. We need to finish things off. We may just get a bit tense, and that comes down to inexperience, playing the best team in the world. I think 1-0 down is disappointing, but it hasn't hurt us and in a lot of ways, I'm very positive about us. As captain, I feel we're very close to hitting the mark ...and we're going to come back hard in Sydney.
credit deserved england five hard matches played series
Credit to England - they've played hard and grafted hard for five matches and probably deserved their series win.
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.
country excited playing quite unknown
The wicket will probably be quite dry. He's an unknown talent. He's young, he's exuberant, he's really excited about playing for his country and that's good.
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.
believe certain fair
To be fair everyone can see we haven't had certain things go our way but I also believe that you make your own luck.
lost ourselves pick
We're disappointed we lost but we're going to have to pick ourselves up again.
africa australian crowds failure fear forward front hard looking past people playing similar south terms
We are very similar and it is a very hard place to come and tour. In the past South Africa have had a big fear of failure but I think we have come to terms with that. We have come here and I know people have called us unimaginative but we are more open. We are looking forward to playing in front of Australian crowds and playing in Australia.
closely ensure foundation henry information leading moore offering reward safe statue valuable
This is a very valuable statue and we are working closely with the Henry Moore Foundation to ensure its safe return. The foundation is offering a substantial reward for information leading to its recovery.