Graeme Smith

1) Graeme Craig Smith was born on 1st February, 1981 in Johannesburg, South Africa, Smith went to the prestigious King Edward VII School. The school boasts of rich alumni and many top South African sportsmen have attended here. Cricketers Ali Bacher, Adam Bacher, Quinton de Kock and many other international cricketers have attended this school
2) Graeme Smith is Left-handed opening batsman and captain of the South African cricket team Test side and debuted domestically for Gauteng in 1999
3) Smith captained his 100th career Test match on 1 February 2013, against Pakistan, on his 32nd Birthday
4) Smith played three Tests multi-day and seven one day matches for South Africa Under-19s, Smith played the U-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2000. This tournament was won by India and it marked the rise of Yuvraj Singh and India’s U-19 captain Mohammad Kaif. The South African side was led by Thami Tsolekile, who later played under Smith as a wicketkeeper, Smith emerged as the top scorer in the tournament
5) Graeme Smith made his Test debut for South Africa in 2002 in Cape Town against Australia
6) Graeme Smith was 22 years, 82 days and only eight test matches old when Smith was handed the South African Test captaincy, making him country’s youngest Test captain and number fourth on the list of youngest Test captains all over the world
7) Smith is currently the most successful Test captain, having overtaken Ricky Ponting’s 48 Test victories
8) Graeme Smith is the youngest ever South African cricketer to lead the side
9) Graeme Smith also holds the world record of highest number of wins in Test matches as skipper with 53 wins
10) The 2005-06 ODI series between Australia and South Africa was evenly balanced 2-2 ahead of the final game at Johannesburg. Australia became the first team to cross the 400-run barrier in ODIs as they posted 434. Their record was short-lived, as in a one of its kind match, South Africa chased the total down. Gibbs’ 175 made the difference for the hosts but Smith played a crucial role with his 55-ball 90.
11) In December 2008, Graeme Smith saw his greatest moment as a leader. During a time when dominating Australia at home was unthinkable, Smith’s men achieved this. Riding on hundreds from Smith and AB de Villiers, South Africa chased down 414 at Perth. South Africa then went on to win the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne. They ended up winning the series 2-1
12) Despite having won the series in Australia in 2008-09, Smith tried his level best to save the Sydney Test that Australia had dominated. Smith came out to bat with a broken hand in attempt to save the Test but was dismissed with only 10 balls remaining. This act of courage won him hearts of the otherwise ruthless Australian spectators. Smith received a standing ovation
13) Out of Smith’s 27 centuries in Test cricket, 15 came as a captain in Test match wins, the most number of centuries by a captain in wins
14) Graeme Smith is the fastest South African to reach 1000, 3000, 4000, 6000, and 7000 test runs
15) On 24 October 2013, Smith became the second South African and 12th overall to complete 9,000 runs in test cricket in his 112th test match
16) Graeme Smith also hit 105 in the Twenty-20 Cup match against Northamptonshire, which is currently the 15th highest score in the domestic Twenty-20 Cup competition
17) Graeme Smith led South Africa in 150 ODI matches, most by a South African captain
18) South Africa have not lost a Test when Smith has scored a hundred. And the remarkable fact is that he has scored 27 Test hundreds
19) Graeme Smith played 197 ODIs for his country scoring 6989 runs at an average of 37.98 with a career best of 141. Smith made 10 tons and 47 fifties
20) Graeme Smith played 117 matches scoring 9265 runs at an average of 48.25 with a career best of 277. Smith made 27 tons and 38 fifties
21) Graeme Smith played 33 T20Is scoring 982 runs at an average of 31.67 with a top score of 89 not out. Smith made 5 fifties in the shortest format
22) Smith also holds the world record of a non-wicketkeeper taking most catches (82) in test match wins
23) In August 2011, Smith got married to Irish singer Morgan Deane in Cape Town. They have a daughter, Candence Christine Smith and a son, Carter McMorrin Smith
24) Graeme Smith has played in IPL for Rajasthan Royals and Pune Warriors India. Smith has also represented Hampshire, Somerset and Surrey in English county cricket
25) During the second Test against Bangladesh at Chittagong in begun on 29 February 2008 Smith scored 232 and Neil McKenzie 226 put on a world record 415 for the first wicket.The partnership beat the previous first-wicket record of 413 which had been set in 1956 by Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy
26) After South Africa lost to New Zealand in the quarter-finals of the 2011 World Cup, Graeme Smith resigned as ODI and Twenty20 captain. Smith was replaced by AB de Villiers.