Thread:
He had been gifted with a mighty side for most of his reign.
But, few can deny that Graeme Smith (born #onthisday 1981) stood like a #cricket colossus in front of his troops, charging headlong into the enemy lines, blazing a trail for his worthy men to follow.

Every aspect of the man was eloquent with the much discussed and rarely witnessed trait of leading from the front. His giant frame could be made out as he stood in the slips under the green cap, active, confident and eternally optimistic.

One look at the field was enough to gauge who was in charge. He was out there to win, by playing hard and tough — sometimes a bit too tough.

When he strode out at the top of the order, it was a sight to intimidate the toughest of oppositions. His square jaw jutted out, his eyes pierced holes into the fielders, his massive form moved menacingly to the wicket.

What followed seldom scored high on the report card of aesthetics. The supposed natural elegance of left-handers soon turned mythical. Drives were clubbed without any semblance of caress. The closing of the bat face to force the ball through the on side was hardly elegant.

The grip remained incorrigibly bottom-handed. He hacked the ball with a degree of brutality that seemed less than humane. The focus was strictly on making runs, not an inch of pragmatism sacrificed for style. Batting remained ruthless business — not an art, let alone a fine one.

Smith was like the brutal stone mason who gave a solid shape to the innings, before the several diverse craftsmen in the line-up took turns to carve and chisel it to perfection.

But yet, if we look at the trail of numbers left along the way his massive boots did tread, we find that Smith is easily among some of the all-time greats.

As captain, his record is very nearly unbelievable. He played just 8 Tests as one of the boys, before he was hauled into the hot seat at 22. From then on, he led the next 109 Tests— more than anyone in the history of the game. He won 53 of them — once again more than any skipper.

His captaincy did have its critics, some considered him somewhat lacking in the dimensions of subtlety. But, generally when one moved away from armchairs and ventured into the greens, he was a name taken with immense respect.

His team members always looked up to him for guidance which was demonstrated with valour rather than influenced through advice. And few would argue with his authority on the field, over a decade of undisputed leadership and the undeniable results.

And when one takes a look at the runs he scored, it suddenly dawns that Smith indeed made his place secure in the pantheon of Protean greats, and perhaps even beyond that.

Given his approach, it may not be appropriate to say that he carved a niche for himself among the kings of the willow. It is perhaps more fitting to observe that he pummelled his way and broke into the highest echelons of batsmanship with his feats.

His gum-chewing countenance and the grammatically questionable batting technique often did not project the impression of a master of crisis. But, Smith was..

In all, he scored 9265 runs scored at 48.25, with 27 hundreds. It came down several notches after the last dismal series against Australia, but still stands near the zone of greatness.

Smith was part of successful fourth innings pursuits in 22 matches, in 21 of them as opener. He scored 1141 runs in these efforts at a mind-boggling average of 87.76, with four hundreds and a strike rate of 69.27.

This implies that when chasing in the fourth innings, Smith came out all guns blazing and most often the guns continue to blaze till no opponent was left standing.

Be it the unbeaten 125 at Hamilton, 153 at Birmingham or his unbeaten 101 to clinch an unbelievable win against Australia at Cape Town — whenever there was a whiff of victory Smith jutted out his jaw, crouched at the crease and struck the ball with the same merciless regularity.

However, for all the runs and the wins, the man was seen at his rawest and bravest best during an innings amounting to just 3 in a lost cause at Sydney, 2009.

He had broken his hand in the first innings and had retired hurt in the process. In the fourth innings, South Africa had to bat out time. Morne Morkel was sent out to open so that most of the established batting order could remain unchanged in spite of Smith’s absence

Smith, his injury by then rendering him unable to dress himself, had his pads strapped on by his teammates and waited in full gear.

With 8.2 overs to go and 9 wickets down Smith walked out, this time at number eleven and proceeded to bat one handed.

Siddle & Hauritz didn't really pull their punches. Smith stalled them. 26 min, 16 balls. Then a ball landed on a crack & jagged back through his defence. The match was lost with ten balls remaining. Smith walked back, defeated, but a hero, the innings played without painkillers.

Graeme Smith was a tower of strength. In more ways than one.
Smith was much more than one of the longest serving captains of any international side. He was also a pillar in the South African batting line up.