Graeme Craig Smith (born 1 February 1981) is a South African cricket commentator and former cricketer, who played for South Africa in all formats. Graeme Smith was only 22 years and 82 days old when he captained his first match against Bangladesh, the youngest ever South African captain.[35]. He is third on the list of his country’s all-time run scorers in Test cricket. Delighted Graeme Smith celebrates arrival of his third child", "First-Class Matches played by Graeme Smith", "First-class Batting and Fielding For Each Team by Graeme Smith", "Scorecard. In scoring 108 in the second innings of the first Test against England at Lord's in 2008, Smith participated in a seventh double-century opening partnership, again in conjunction with McKenzie, as South Africa fought to draw a Test which appeared lost. #wedding #love #beloftebos #family #friends #blendedfamily #Celebrations 😍💍 pic.twitter.com/8Ft5R9xM1r, Graeme Smith, a brilliant captain and batsman. With 9253 Test runs, Smith remains the third-highest scorer for the Proteas in red-ball cricket. Graeme Smith holds an unusual record in England in 2003, 2008 and 2012, Nasser Hussain, Michael Vaughan and Andrew Strauss ended their respective careers as England test captains as they failed to beat South Africa in the years Smith toured England as South Africa captain. [61] The result provided Smith with personal vengeance against Michael Vaughan for denying South Africa a series victory in England in 2003 and defeating South Africa at home in 2004–5; Vaughan resigned as captain of England after the Edgbaston match, in an echo of Nasser Hussain's resignation at the instigation of Smith's batting five years earlier. [2] He is regarded as one of the greatest South African players of all time. Earlier, Smith had married Irish singer Morgan Deane in Cape Town in August 2011 with whom he had two children - a girl named Cadence Christine Smith and a boy named Carter McMorrin Smith. [5] His 259 at Lord's still holds the record for being the highest score made by a foreign player at this prestigious venue. If you continue to use our site, you agree to the updated Policies. Graeme Smith marries wife Romy Lanfranchi for 2nd time. [29] [50] The result gave South Africa in a 3–2 series victory over the Australians. In the first test match at Perth, South Africa chased down 414 runs with 6 wickets in hand. Smith played three Tests,[12] and seven One Day Internationals for South Africa under-19s,[13] of which five were during the Under 19 Cricket World Cup. [60] He also scored a second-innings 154 not out in the third Test at Edgbaston, to lead South Africa to a challenging target of 281, and with it South Africa's first series victory in England since 1965. [26] He also hit 105 in the Twenty20 Cup match against Northamptonshire,[27] which is currently the 15th highest score in the domestic Twenty20 Cup competition. This outstanding run of form could have continued but for an unusual dismissal: in the third Test at Trent Bridge Smith, on 35, played back to Andrew Flintoff and trod on his stumps to be dismissed hit wicket. Smith was also awarded the South African Cricketer of the Year award for his performances in the 2001–02 South African cricket season. He scored 27 centuries and 38 fifties in his stellar Test career. [69], In October 2019, he was elected as an honorary life member of the Marylebone Cricket Club in recognition of his outstanding achievement in Cricket. Smith also captained the team to victory on finals day to secure the Twenty20 Cup trophy, making 64 not out from 47 balls in the final. [6] On 24 October 2013, Smith became the second South African and 12th overall to complete 9,000 runs in test cricket in his 112th test match. He latterly played for the Cape Cobras but due to his international commitments, his appearances for them were limited, his last first-class game for them being in 2010. He retired from international cricket in 2014. [46], South Africa won a Test series in the West Indies in 2005, with Smith scoring centuries in three consecutive Tests: 148 at the Queen's Park Oval, 104 at the Kensington Oval and 126 at Antigua. Now, Smith can be seen making daily appearances as a cricket commentator and an analyst. He held the position of test captain until his retirement in 2014. At the subsequent hearing no evidence could be found and charges were dropped against Smith, who immediately demanded an apology from Bravo. Australia set South Africa a world record 434–4 from 50 overs, which was successfully chased by South Africa who reached 438–9 with a ball to spare. !❤️ Smith made his Test debut for South Africa in 2002 in Cape Town against Australia, batting at number three and scoring 68 in the second innings. Graeme Craig Smith (born 1 February 1981) is a South African cricket commentator and former cricketer, who played for South Africa in all formats. To continue enjoying Sportstar, you can turn off your adblocker or subscribe to Sportstar Plus. They had beaten the West Indies 3–1 earlier in the year, but South African cricket was described as being in a state of 'freefall'. A post shared by Graeme smith (@graemesmith49) on Oct 30, 2019 at 4:08am PDT. Smith did not pass 20 again in the series as a galvanised England led by Vaughan won the match and fought back to draw the series 2–2, but Smith nonetheless finished the series with an aggregate of 714 runs at an average of 79.33,[38] and was named player of the series (jointly with Flintoff). He's the only player to captain a team in 100 Tests. [47] However, their tour of Australia, and Australia's subsequent return tour in the 2005–06 season were disappointments for Smith, as they succumbed to a 2–0 defeat in Australia,[48] and a 3–0 whitewash at home. However, in February 2015, the former Proteas skipper and Morgan publicly announced that they would be divorcing after four years of marriage. There are no words to describe the perfection of our special day. He captained his 100th career Test match on 1 February 2013, against Pakistan, on his 32nd birthday. [5] His 277 remained the highest individual Test innings scored by a South African until November 2010, surpassing the previous record of 275 held jointly by Daryll Cullinan and Gary Kirsten;[36] his 259 remains the highest score made at Lord's by a foreign player, breaking the record of 254 set by Sir Donald Bradman in 1930. Three years back, Romy told the reporters that she got completely stumped after she met Graeme Smith, whom she found very down-to-earth. He is also the only test captain to play in excess of 100 test matches. [39][40] In Test matches also South Africa suffered a poor run with series losses to England, India and Sri Lanka. [53] As captain he led the South African cricket team through 20 consecutive undefeated matches in One Day Internationals in 2005. [62][63], For his performances in 2008, he was named as captain of the World Test XI by ICC and Cricinfo[64][circular reference].[65]. [30] In the following home series against Pakistan, Smith (who scored 151) and Gibbs (228) shared a first-wicket stand of 368,[31] a national record until bettered by Smith and Neil McKenzie's 415, and at the time the fourth highest opening partnership in Test history. Named one of Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year in 2004, Smith secured a second place on the Honours Board in 2008, hitting a century at Lords in the drawn Test with England. [23] In total he has played 17 games for Western Province scoring 1,312 runs with four centuries at an average of 46.85.