Graeme Smith to retire from international cricket

[jcas0167]

Would people classify him as an ATG?

On the spur of the moment, I'm tending towards yes.

Without hesitation, yes. Fantastic record as an opener over a more than a decade. Great innings under pressure and has done it after being the youngest South African captain at age 22. That shows incredible mental toughness and maturity to handle that responsibility and maintain his own form for such a long period.

The memory that comes to mind of him is him coming out to bat at the SCG with a broken hand to try and save a test when Mitchell Johnson was on fire. He eventually got bowled, but it was rousing stuff and I think summed up Smith's tough, hard nosed approach.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Was actually quite surprised to see that Smith has a beautifully uniform record. He's done well everywhere except for done strange reason, India. Great batsman, certainly imo

 

[Spark]

South Africa Cricket Features: The giant boy who stood up to legends | ESPN Cricinfo

I don't think this even needs posting because everyone will read it anyway, but... yeah

 

[nightprowler10]

From the OP:

Castle Lager Proteas

What?

 

[Jassy]

Was actually quite surprised to see that Smith has a beautifully uniform record. He's done well everywhere except for done strange reason, India. Great batsman, certainly imo

Zaheer Khan basically.

 

[Jassy]

Not sure how he will go down in history. For me he is definitely a great player.....ATG I am not sure. Interesting though. Has a a below par record vs Aus and Ind plus in those countries. Surprising he hasn't got a single hundred against SL or Ind....Zaheer and lack of tests against SL the reasons really, just nitpicking here. Pressure player, brilliant captaincy record.....borderline for me, unable to decide.

Anyway, thanks for the memories Graeme. Truly one of a kind. Such a setback for SA losing two great players in the space of two months. Not sure they have the batting now to maintain that ranking for too long, AB and Amla aside.

 

[Spark]

Not sure how you could claim he has that much of a below par record in Australia tbh. Was man of the series in one of the three series he played down here and was fairly crucial in winning one of the others too.

 

[OverratedSanity]

In terms of players having mediocre averages against/ in certain countries , I'm willing to ignore that if the player has a handful of truly vital or great knocks. A bit like Dravid's average against Aus. It dropped to below 40 after that last series but 3 of our greatest victories against Australia had immense performances from him.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Not sure how you could claim he has that much of a below par record in Australia tbh. Was man of the series in one of the three series he played down here and was fairly crucial in winning one of the others too.

Two of his best chasing tons came against them too. Perth and Capetown. Plus the Adelaide du plessis rearguard might not have even been possible without Smith's first innings ton

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Quite simply, a very very good player and a great captain. My 2nd fav captain in all sports behind Richie McCaw. One word - RESPECT

 

[Adders]

Wonder if Smithy is looking for a coaching gig?? Reckon I know where there may be a job that he'd suit perfectly.

 

[morgieb]

In terms of players having mediocre averages against/ in certain countries , I'm willing to ignore that if the player has a handful of truly vital or great knocks. A bit like Dravid's average against Aus. It dropped to below 40 after that last series but 3 of our greatest victories against Australia had immense performances from him.

His average was under 40 against us?

Surprising.

Also what's the 3rd? Chennai 01?

 

[Jono]

Perth 2008

 

[OverratedSanity]

Perth 2008

One of his more underrated ones, along with Kandy 2001

 

[Jassy]

In terms of players having mediocre averages against/ in certain countries , I'm willing to ignore that if the player has a handful of truly vital or great knocks. A bit like Dravid's average against Aus. It dropped to below 40 after that last series but 3 of our greatest victories against Australia had immense performances from him.

yeah, that's fair enough. I do that too.

 

[Furball]

In terms of players having mediocre averages against/ in certain countries , I'm willing to ignore that if the player has a handful of truly vital or great knocks. A bit like Dravid's average against Aus. It dropped to below 40 after that last series but 3 of our greatest victories against Australia had immense performances from him.

It's why Dravid > Tendulkar. The latter bolstered his stats with pretty, albeit entirely useless knocks like the one at Sydney 2004.

 

[GIMH]

That knock at Edgbaston 08 killed me. It was magnificent. I hated every second of it. Tremendous. One of the great knocks

 

[Jono]

It's why Dravid > Tendulkar. The latter bolstered his stats with pretty, albeit entirely useless knocks like the one at Sydney 2004.

With all due respect Furball, as you didn't watch cricket in the 90s you seriously cannot make comments like that. Crazy talk.

Dravid didn't do it often enough against Warne and McGrath for mine to even compare his record against Australia with Tendulkar. One knock of significance against them. None in Australia.

 

[Jono]

I mean by that definition all of Dravid's knocks against England in 2011 were ****ing useless.

 

[Jono]

One of his more underrated ones, along with Kandy 2001

Yeah it was admirable considering he was disgustingly out of form during that 2007/08 series, couldn't get it off the square. That knock was pure guts. Reason why it was underrated is because he threw it away with a horrible shot against Symonds, and Laxman's knock in the 2nd dig was sublime and was seen as the matchwinner.

Ftr Tendulkar's knock in the first innings in Perth was better, just that his innings ended prematurely with a bad LBW decision. FMD Sachin was brilliant that 07/08 tour.