Is Greame Smith The Right Person to Captain The Proteas ??

[Legglancer]

Bob Woolmer is of the openion that Smith is too young to be captain of SA. His sentiments seem to ring true, eventhough I have not seen Greame Smith too much. He may even be excellent leadership material ... but if he makes too many mistakes due to inexperience .. it could scar him for the future. Its quite possible that pollock has been made pay an unfairly excessive price for his WC debacle.

What about Kallis ? Or Boucher ? are they not interested in Captaincy ?

 

[Langeveldt]

Pollock was made a scapegoat for a world cup defeat that was caused IMHO by huge public expectation and pressure, and a lack of belief that they could go all the way to the end...

In an Ideal world, pollock would be captain, but the powers at the UCBSA reckon he should not be captain...

Remember how Pollock was thrust in to the scene at the demise of Hansie....Not easy stuff, I dont think he has been well treated..

But he has to go, and although Smith is potentially a good captain, they should have groomed him while keeping Pollock on..I think Kallis would have been the Ideal choice, maybe taking a more minor role with his bowling to compensate..Im sure he would be interested in captaining SA, but I dont think he was asked...

Kallis for now, Smith should have come in later

 

[Legglancer]

Agreed .... ! here's an excerpt from a south African newspaper article on jonty's perspective on the subject.



Pollock sacking 'rings hollow', says Rhodes


A FULL-OF-BEANS Jonty Rhodes has arrived in Gloucestershire with his
customary enthusiasm and, for the first time, has spoken out fully about his
feelings regarding South Africa's sad exit from the World Cup and the sacking of
Shaun Pollock as captain.

While Rhodes has quit the South African game, he is now focused on fulfilling a
long-held ambition of playing in English county cricket.

"There have not been many off-seasons where I could have fitted county cricket in. But now my international
career has finished, I'm really excited about being here and helping Gloucestershire return to the top.

"It's going to be a challenge to get through six months and I've been told to bring my sense of humour and
enthusiasm with me, and it's important to have that, not just for three months but for the whole 16
championship matches," Rhodes said.

One of the most popular cricketers to have ever graced the game, Rhodes admitted that the World Cup
disappointment (he was ruled out by injury in the second game) and the axing of Pollock "still burns a bit".

"It was a heartbreaking summer for me personally, but I also find it hard not to dwell on the treatment of
Shaun, which was very interesting to say the least.

"I know that Graeme Smith is a tough young man and a great fellow, and hopefully these qualities will stand
him in good stead as he leads his team in the Bangladesh series. I hope he has the full backing of both the
team and the UCB.

"But the reason given for removing Shaun from his position, that 'he could not get the best out of his players',
rings a little hollow. Herschelle Gibbs and Makhaya Ntini are two players who have raced up their respective
world rankings under the leadership of Polly. At international level, is it really the captain who should
motivate his players? Kepler Wessels was always adamant that if a player needed to be motivated by his
captain at this level, then the player was way out of his depth," Rhodes said.

 

[Langeveldt]

I think Rhodes is echoing the sentiments of millions of South Africans...

Its a pity that the guys who really matter, the guys at the top, arent more like Jonty himself

 

[Legglancer]

Yes its a pity indeed ! I used to be quite an ardent SA cricket team Fan as some of my all time favorite players (Rhodes, Donald, Kallis, Zulu) were great to watch ... But the main reason was because SA was the only team even on paper that could close to kick some aussie ass. I am certainly keeping my finger crossed for this new SA outfit .... God knows we need someone to keep the Aussies in check !

 

[Langeveldt]

Im not really worried about whether we beat Australia or not, I would be quite happy with staying first or second in the world ranking, I dont want SA cricket to drift down the table which is always the danger with such mindless activity going on at the top

 

[Cloete]

yeah Smith has a huge future. but captaining wouldn't b rite yet. i think Kallis would b a good choice. but a better choice i'd think would be Boucher!!

 

[lord_of_darkness]

I dunno give him some more time i guess, the team needs to patch well over a period of time , they still sorting out the shock exit i guess

 

[marc71178]

Boucher doesn't want it (link)

 

[Cloete]

damn!! cause he'd have been perfect. then smith could have been an under-study. may-b kallis should have been made captain and smith vice-captain?