Smith looks beyond Cronje record
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
LEEDS, July 22 (AFP): Graeme Smith may have had to be told he'd replaced the late disgraced Hansie Cronje as South Africa's most successful Test captain after his side's 10-wicket triumph here at Headingley but one statistic he was all too well aware of was the Proteas' record in England.
Smith was at the crease as South Africa got the nine runs they needed to complete a comprehensive second Test thrashing of England on Monday with more than a day to spare.
Victory put the Proteas, ranked second in the world Test standings behind Australia, 1-0 up in the four-match series after a two-day rearguard action saw them draw the opener at Lord's.
It also gave Smith his 28th victory in 59 Tests as South Africa captain, surpassing Cronje's mark of 27 wins from 53 matches in charge.
That was all news to Smith, who at the tender age of 22 was thrust into the captaincy of a South Africa side that had just made an early exit, on home soil, at the 2003 World Cup and was still struggling to come to terms with the fall-out from Cronje's public confessions of match-fixing.
Smith was at the crease as South Africa got the nine runs they needed to complete a comprehensive second Test thrashing of England on Monday with more than a day to spare.
Victory put the Proteas, ranked second in the world Test standings behind Australia, 1-0 up in the four-match series after a two-day rearguard action saw them draw the opener at Lord's.
It also gave Smith his 28th victory in 59 Tests as South Africa captain, surpassing Cronje's mark of 27 wins from 53 matches in charge.
That was all news to Smith, who at the tender age of 22 was thrust into the captaincy of a South Africa side that had just made an early exit, on home soil, at the 2003 World Cup and was still struggling to come to terms with the fall-out from Cronje's public confessions of match-fixing.