Graeme Smith: Our chief of men

Graeme Smith left South Africa on December 6 knowing he had plenty of doubters in his own country but aware that there were even more in Australia, against whom he had averaged just 22 runs in eight Test matches.

He arrives back on Friday in the knowledge that Australia, at least, is not only conquered but convinced of his credentials as a batsman and a leader.

His team became the first in South Africa’s history to win a Test series in the country that concedes fewer defeats than any other — the Aussies had not been beaten on their own patch in 17 years.

Three years ago Smith was seen as a confrontational youth with too much to say and too little respect — and his team lost 2-0 Down Under. Now he is one of the most respected captains in the game — more so than Ricky Ponting — a man with humility and grace, and a captain with tactical nous, inspirational qualities and a barrel-load of courage. In two instances in Sydney the SCG crowd gave him spine-­tingling standing ovations.

The first was when he was led around the boundary’s edge, left hand in a cast, during the tea-break on the fourth day to give a television interview, his game over.

The second, much louder and far more prolonged, came when he emerged from the pavilion once again on the fifth evening, having had the cast cut off his broken hand, to bat in an attempt to force a draw.

He said he was ‘absolutely stunned” by the reception.

As was his opposite number, Ponting, who said it was ‘one of the most courageous things I’ve seen on a cricket field”.

Smith’s scriptwriter would be facing certain dismissal if he had saved the match. A tour of barely credible story lines in Perth and then Melbourne would have become quite ridiculous had the captain survived, in the company of Makhaya Ntini nogal, the 50 deliveries that remained in the match when he came to the crease.

He acknowledged as much immediately afterwards: ‘Unfortunately it didn’t have the fairy-tale ending, at least not here in Sydney, but it’s still a fairy tale as far as I’m concerned because we have the trophy and we won it before the New Year. That’s the only fairy tale that really matters.”

If it seems wrong to focus attention on an individual when every member of the eleven contributed to the triumph, it is worth remembering that the captain also receives the bulk of the criticism when things go wrong — and that even his closest ‘rival” for man of the series, Dale Steyn, said the award had gone to the right person.

‘He led us unbelievably well throughout the series, he batted incredibly and he was an inspiration, from setting up the record run chase in Perth to getting the job done in Melbourne, he was always at the front,” Steyn said.

‘But also the way he rotated the bowlers, always trying to look after us — and then the field placings, I wouldn’t have got half my wickets if it wasn’t for the way he read the game and set the field.

‘A lot of the preparation before the series is done by the captain and coach. It takes a lot of work behind closed doors and we appreciate that. Every one of the other 10 players in the team backs him 100% and it’s absolutely right that he got it, he was man of the series. It’s just a small cherry on top for him because it’s the series that counts most for all of us,” Steyn said.

‘Personally, I’m very proud to have taken 18 wickets and scored a few runs but I’m proud of every member of the team — in another series JP would have been man of the series for what he did. I just feel very privileged to be a part of this team.”

The ‘few runs” to which Steyn refers include a career-best 76 during a cataclysmic, series-changing ninth wicket stand of 180 with JP Duminy at the MCG just a week after Duminy had scored the winning runs in the second-highest run chase in history. No batsman has made a greater impact for South Africa in his debut series. Steyn has a rare, impish sense of humour and claims the magnitude of that partnership still hasn’t sunk in.

‘How many was it, again?” he asks.

‘180.”

‘Jeez, I love hearing that number —”

For Smith the remainder of the tour will be spent at home and, while he acknowledges there will be time to reflect, appreciate and cherish the Test series, it won’t all be pleasure. ‘Hopefully I’ll be doing a lot of healing. I’m also really looking forward to watching the one-day series on TV and seeing how the young guys respond to the challenge, seeing who puts their hand up for a place in the one-day set up. We have a two-year building period before the next world cup and now is the time for people to stake a claim.

‘But we also need to plan for the return Test series. February 26 will be here very quickly and we need to make sure we have plenty left in the tank for that. There is a big prize at stake.” The prize is the world number one ranking. Victory by any margin will deliver it.

Only two changes to the victorious XI may be contemplated at this stage, a rudely premature time to be ruining the party. Lonwabo Tsotsobe made giant strides during the month of the Test series and, while only a fool ever suggests Ntini is past his peak, he was certainly off the boil towards the end of the Melbourne Test and in Sydney.

Vice-captain Ashwell Prince deserves to have his place back after breaking a thumb the day before the Perth Test but Duminy has, surely, made himself undroppable.

The least successful of the top six was Neil McKenzie.

A reshuffle with a new partner for Smith at the top of the order? It is a move that Smith, certainly, would not support. Tough decisions lie ahead for the selectors, a conundrum that convenor Mike Procter described in Sydney as ‘a nice problem to have but something I’d prefer to think about when the celebration is over”.

The bullish leadership style Smith adopted as a 22-year-old trying to ‘prove himself” cost him votes among the South African cricket electorate, and he knows that. But if Australia can stand and applaud, it would seem the least South Africa might do is recognise the inner fortitude and extraordinary achievements of the man.