39 Facts About Graeme Smith

Graeme Craig Smith was born on 1 February 1981 and is a South African cricket commentator and former cricketer who played for South Africa in all formats.

Graeme Smith held the position of test captain until his retirement in 2014.

Graeme Smith was the most capped captain ever when he played his 102nd test against England.

Graeme Smith is considered as one of the greatest ever test captains of all-time having led South Africa to a record 54 test victories and under his captaincy South Africa was often highlighted as the best travelling team in the world.

On 24 October 2013, Graeme Smith became the second South African and 12th overall to complete 9,000 runs in test cricket in his 112th test match.

Graeme Smith was the overseas player and captain of the English side Surrey.

Graeme Smith appeared in his 100th Test against England on 19 July 2012.

Graeme Smith captained his 100th career Test match on 1 February 2013, against Pakistan, on his 32nd birthday.

Graeme Smith played three Tests, and seven One Day Internationals for South Africa under-19s, of which five were during the Under 19 Cricket World Cup.

Graeme Smith scored one fifty in the test matches, but scored five half-centuries in the one-dayers.

Graeme Smith married Irish singer Morgan Deane, at St Bernard Catholic Church in Claremont, Cape Town in August 2011.

Graeme Smith has played for several cricket teams in South Africa.

Graeme Smith latterly played for the Cape Cobras but due to his international commitments, his appearances for them were limited, his last first-class game for them being in 2010.

Graeme Smith has played for other teams in South Africa including the United Cricket Board of South Africa Invitation XI and Western Province Boland.

Graeme Smith has played county cricket for Somerset in the 2005 English cricket season, captaining the club for part of the 2005 season, and he scored a century in a tour match against the Australians in preparation for the 2005 Ashes series.

Graeme Smith hit 105 in the Twenty20 Cup match against Northamptonshire, which is currently the 15th highest score in the domestic Twenty20 Cup competition.

Graeme Smith captained the team to victory on finals day to secure the Twenty20 Cup trophy, making 64 not out from 47 balls in the final.

In 2008 Graeme Smith played in the inaugural Indian Premier League for Rajasthan Royals.

On 1 November 2012 Graeme Smith was announced as the new captain of Surrey County Cricket Club starting in the 2013 season.

Graeme Smith received his county cap at lunch on day 1 of the first championship fixture of the 2013 season against Somerset.

Graeme Smith made his Test debut for South Africa in 2002 in Cape Town against Australia, batting at number three and scoring 68 in the second innings.

Graeme Smith was only 22 years and 82 days old when he captained his first match against Bangladesh, the youngest ever South African captain.

Graeme Smith's 277 remained the highest individual Test innings scored by a South African until November 2010, surpassing the previous record of 275 held jointly by Daryll Cullinan and Gary Kirsten; his 259 remains the highest score made at Lord's by a foreign player, breaking the record of 254 set by Sir Donald Bradman in 1930.

South Africa won a Test series in the West Indies in 2005, with Graeme Smith scoring centuries in three consecutive Tests: 148 at the Queen's Park Oval, 104 at the Kensington Oval and 126 at Antigua.

Pride was restored when Graeme Smith led his team to victory in South Africa's win over Australia in a One Day International at the Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, on 12 March 2006.

Graeme Smith scored 90 runs off 55 balls in the chase, and shared in a second-wicket partnership of 187 runs with Herschelle Gibbs.

In scoring 108 in the second innings of the first Test against England at Lord's in 2008, Graeme Smith participated in a seventh double-century opening partnership, again in conjunction with McKenzie, as South Africa fought to draw a Test which appeared lost.

Graeme Smith scored a second-innings 154 not out in the third Test at Edgbaston, to lead South Africa to a challenging target of 281, and with it South Africa's first series victory in England since 1965.

Graeme Smith broke his Australian hoodoo by leading from the front and scoring 108, his first century against Australia.

On 7 January 2009, in the third test of the series, Graeme Smith received a standing ovation from the crowd when he batted in the second innings despite a broken hand in an attempt to save the Third Test.

Graeme Smith fell with ten balls remaining and Australia won the Test.

Graeme Smith had to recover from an ankle injury to face England in three test series in 2012.

Graeme Smith is the most successful test captain in test history and the only captain to have registered 50+ test wins, having overtaken Ricky Ponting's 48 Test victories.

Graeme Smith was appointed as director of cricket for South Africa national cricket team in mid December 2019 initially on a temporary three-month stint and after the three-month stint in an interim capacity as director of cricket, he was slated for commentary role for the 2020 Indian Premier League.

Graeme Smith decided not to reapply for the post following the outcome of SJN Hearings.

Graeme Smith was among several employees of CSA to be implicated in tentative findings made by SJN ombudsman.

Graeme Smith paved way for AB de Villiers to become the designated wicketkeeper of the side ahead of Tsolekile despite the fact that de Villiers being only a specialist keeper for the test series against England in 2012.

However, Graeme Smith was cleared of racism allegations by two independent arbitrators who indicated there was no evidence of racial bias and indicated that there was no evidence on whether Graeme Smith had engaged in racial discrimination.

Graeme Smith holds an unusual record against England: In 2003,2008 and 2012, Nasser Hussain, Michael Vaughan and Andrew Strauss ended their respective careers as England test captains as they failed to beat the Proteas in the years Smith toured England as South African captain.