Graeme Smith was just over a year into his international career when the captaincy charge of South Africa fell on his shoulder. He was just 22 at that time!
One would have succumbed to the pressure, but Smith held onto his own. The initial years were tough, but he got better at the job as the years passed by. And by the time Smith bowed out, he was among the greatest captains.
On that note, let’s see how Graeme Smith fared as captain across formats here.
Graeme Smith Captaincy Record – All Formats
| Format | Matches | Won | Lost | Tied | Draw | No Result | Win% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test | 109 | 53 | 29 | 0 | 27 | – | 48.62 |
| ODI | 150 | 92 | 51 | 1 | – | 6 | 61.33 |
| T20I | 27 | 18 | 9 | 0 | – | 0 | 66.67 |
| Overall | 286 | 163 | 89 | 1 | 27 | 6 | 57.00 |
Click here to compare and analyse other Captains’ records
Key Insights
Graeme Smith is the third most successful captain in international cricket after Ricky Ponting and MS Dhoni. He won 163 of the 284 matches he led South Africa in. These three are also the only skippers with more than 150 wins across formats.
Smith’s 286 matches are the fourth most by a captain in all formats of the game. Of those, he led ICC XI and Africa XI once each in a Test and ODI, respectively.
On the Test front, though, Smith puts everyone behind. He led the Proteas in 109 Tests and won 53 of them, the most by a skipper in red-ball cricket. In fact, he is the only captain with 50-plus victories and 100-plus matches in Test cricket.
Out of the 53 Test wins, 22 came in away conditions, the second-most by a skipper. Smith trails West Indies’ Clive Lloyd, who won 23 overseas Tests.
In ODIs, Smith occupies the sixth spot, with 92 overall wins. He was at the helm of the South African unit in 149 matches. Smith also led Africa XI in an ODI against Asia XI, though the match ended with no result.
Smith stepped down as South Africa’s T20I skipper in 2011. But he is still their second-most successful captain in the shortest format. The Proteas won 18 of the 27 T20Is under Smith’s tutelage.
South Africa reached the No. 1 Test team ranking twice in Smith’s tenure. He first took the team to the top in 2009, though the reign lasted for only three months. But then, the Proteas occupied the pole position for almost two years between August 2012 and May 2014. Find out how ICC ranks teams and players here.
In ODIs also, South Africa attained the top spot three times, but in small periods between 2007 and 2009.
Smith was just 22 years old when he first captained South Africa in an ODI (22 years and 71 days) and a Test (22 years and 82 days). That made him the youngest South African captain in both formats. Even in the shortest format, he holds the top spot as he led the T20I side for the first time at the age of 24 years and 262 days.
Read: The Tale of South Africa in ICC Tournaments
Graeme Smith Batting Stats as Captain
| Format | Matches | Runs | Avg | SR | High Score | 100s/50s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test | 109 | 8659 | 47.83 | 59.63 | 277 | 25/36 |
| ODI | 150 | 5416 | 38.96 | 83.06 | 141 | 8/37 |
| T20I | 27 | 803 | 32.12 | 127.46 | 89* | 0/4 |
| Overall | 286 | 14878 | 43.12 | 68.66 | 277 | 33/77 |
Key Insights
Smith scored 14878 runs as a captain across formats, the most by a South African. Overall, he sits at No. 2 behind Ricky Ponting’s tally (15440).
In Test cricket, though, Smith leads the chart. He aggregated 8659 runs in 109 matches to leave behind Allan Border and Ponting. Interestingly, no captain from South Africa has mustered more than 3000 runs as a Test skipper.
In 50-overs cricket as well, Smith has scored the most runs as Proteas’ skipper. He accumulated 5416 runs in 149 matches he captained South Africa in.
Despite playing his last T20I in 2010, he is the second-highest run scorer as South Africa captain in the shortest format. He trails Faf du Plessis (1211) with 803 runs in 27 games.
Smith’s 33 hundreds across formats are the second-most by a captain. And he smashed 25 of those centuries in Tests, the most by a captain. Virat Kohli is the only other captain with 20 Test centuries.
86.30 percent of Smith’s career runs came under his captaincy tenure. Of those, 58.14 percent (8651) came away from home, while 41.85 percent (6227) came at home. His run-scoring was one of the reasons behind South Africa’s dominance away from home under his leadership.
Read: 30 Centuries in ODI – The Elite List
