What is with Graeme Smith and the England captains? With the retirement of Andrew Strauss, the tally of England captains he has forced into retirement moves up to three. The story goes back to as long as 2003. Fresh from the World Cup debacle, South Africa rung in major changes. One such change was the installation of a 22 year old rookie, Graeme Smith, as the new captain of South Africa.
It was supposed to be a fresh start to a new chapter in the cricket annals of South Africa. Little did the then England management realize that he would prove 'Terminator' to each of their skippers on every such tour.
"Who's Graeme Smith?" smirked the then England captain Nasser Hussain when South Africa led by the young captain arrived on English soil in 2003, reminding some, of a famous question posed by Ayn Rand in her novel "Atlas Shrugged". It was meant to be a sarcastic jibe, one that would spectacularly rebound on the English skipper.
Smith replied with a series to remember, not just with the bat but also as the young leader of the Proteas. It took just one Test for Hussain to call it quits, Smith had psyched out the England captain in a battle of wits at Edgbaston. His career best 277, the then highest individual score by a South African player had left Nasser emotionally drained. Smith had announced himself to the English crowd with a bang, a new leaf had been turned over.
Hussain knew his time at the top was over, he quit captaincy and at the 2nd Test at Lord's, there was a new leader for the Englishmen, Michael Vaughan.
Graeme Smith had announced himself and would later go on to become the longest serving captain ever in the history of Test cricket. The new world order had arrived, something Hussain gracefully conceded.
Four years later, it was the turn of the incumbent England skipper, Michael Vaughan. Vaughan was undoubtedly being hailed as one of the best tactical captains England ever had. His reign started with an embarrassing defeat at Lord's but managed to pick up the pieces to draw the five Test series 2-2.
The 2004 home summer turned to be a watershed moment for Vaughan and his England team as they whitewashed both New Zealand and West Indies. The 2005 Ashes marked him for greatness, the Windies were dismissed contemptuously in the early summer of 2007, a surprise loss against Dravid's India later that season was termed as a small bump on the road to greatness.
Michael Vaughan was hailed as the man who would lead England to unlimited success, all that remained was vanquishing Graeme Smith and his South Africa to confirm Vaughan's greatness.
The first Test of the 2008 Basil D'Oliveria trophy set the seeds for the fall of the English empire. Smith led a battling effort in which South Africa batted for most part of the last two days to salvage a draw from the jaws of defeat. South Africa went on to win the next two Tests, at Leeds and Birmingham to seal a series victory, their first since 1965 in England.
South Africa had conquered England, more importantly Smith had stopped Vaughan in his tracks, it was just fitting that Smith led from the front, an unbeaten 154 in the 3rd Test at Birmingham while chasing 281 sealing the series victory. The aura around Vaughan had vanished, he resigned from captaincy on 3rd August, 2008 in an emotional press conference. He thanked his supporters for their encouragement and in a flood of tears, asked if anyone had a tissue.
Smith had successfully ventured deep into the hearts of the English management, they had lost a second successive skipper at the hands of the marauder popularly named as 'Biff'.
The 2012 tour was tipped as the contest of the year, this was going to be a series of significance, the battle for the No. 1 Test ranking was to be decided during the course of the three Tests that would follow, it was the battle between two of the strongest bowling line-ups of the current era, it was also a fight between the skippers.
Strauss knew he was on thin ice after the defeats at the hands of Pakistan and an average series against Sri Lanka. He was up against perhaps the best captain in the world today, Graeme Smith. And add to the small battle, Strauss was to face the hat-trick attempt by Smith. The onus was on Strauss to prove that Smith was not an enigma to England.
Before the series started, the nation was engrossed by the Olympics, Great Britain ended up with one of their biggest hauls ever to finish third in the standings. Sadly for the cricketers, they could derive very little inspiration from their sporting bravado at the Olympics. The first Test at the Kennington Oval set the mark for the remainder of the series, Strauss was dismissed in the first over of the match by his old nemesis, Morne Morkel, and the much hyped England bowlers took a mere 2 wickets after 189 tiring overs.
England were demolished and Strauss' captaincy came under intense scrutiny. The pattern had been set and try as they might, England never ever came close to getting into a winning position for the remainder of the series.
It did not help Strauss that the internal bickering in the team came out in the open during the latter stages of the Test series. Kevin Pietersen was axed from the squad after having accepted charges of sending derogatory messages about his team-mates including skipper Strauss.
The saga left Strauss physically and emotionally drained, his padding up to a straight one in what was to be his final ball in international cricket just proved to be the final straw that would go on to break Strauss' back.
Smith had gate-crashed the party of yet another England captain. He has almost cultivated an envious persona that England cricket has failed to decode so far. 'Graeme Smith-who' turned out to be 'Smith-the party-pooper' for Hussain, Vaughan and Strauss. Smith is just 31 and might have one more England tour up his sleeves. Will he still be the Test captain then? Considering his exploits, it doesn't look out of the equation.
England will be silently hoping that it will not be the case. The next time, an England skipper who goes out for the toss against South Africa will be silently hoping that he will not see a certain Mr. Graeme Smith at the other end.
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