a little bit more about our ex captain Graeme Smith. During the luncheon break Fox ran a program called Legends of the game, it consisted of one on one interviews with past players.
Uptil then I didn't know much about Smithy and I hadn't heard him say much other than a few words at the toss of a game. The interviewer, forget his name, started by asking him about his captaincy, Smithy said when he received the offer at the young age of 22 he had no idea what he was in for and relied mostly on Kallis and Boucher for advice during the early years. He said he had no say in the selection of the team and only 50% of the teams selected met with his satisfaction. He had to accept the team even though he believed that a better player or players had been left out. He went onto speak about how his daughter suffered burns to her body and how he would spend time with her at the hospital before rushing off to do test match duties. Family pressures got to him and he was forced to give up cricket. He also spoke about the team culture and ethos and the work that had been put into it, and how there were no inflated ego's amongst team members. Ricky Ponting once came into the team dressing room and remarked afterwards that he could remember a time when the Ozzie dressing room used to be like the SAFFA dressing room.
All up he came across as a decent bloke, passionate about South African cricket, down to earth and humble. Clearly a family man as well.
Not so long ago Becs and Rooinek took turns in slagging him off..... ..now that I've had a bit more insight into the man I'm puzzled as to why.