Neither Nasser Hussain nor Michael Vaughan began their respective home series against South Africa, in 2003 and 2008, intending to step down as England captain. Yet neither made it to the final match still in charge. Both were on the receiving end of monumental innings from their opposite number, Graeme Smith. And both resigned. Popular myth has it that Hussain contributed to his own torment in the First Test at Edgbaston when he referred to Smith – then aged 22 and in only his second series as captain – as “Wotsisname” in the pre-match press conference. Some say Smith didn’t even know of the slight, and that it had nothing to do with his subsequent innings of 277, then a South African record, nor the 259 he made in the next Test at Lord’s. “I was told about it,” a laughing Smith tells Wisden EXTRA nine years later. “I was well aware of it. I’d like to think I would have scored those runs anyway, but there was certainly a feeling of wanting to make sure he remembered my name next time.” Hussain may have been nearing the end of the road anyway – Smith just happened to be the right man in the right place at the right time to persuade him to hand over to Michael Vaughan. But five years later there was very clearly a sense of hunter and hunted about the Smith–Vaughan relationship, with Smith admitting at the time that South Africa “dived in as hard as we could” once it became obvious Vaughan was under pressure. These days Smith is a great deal more mellow. There is no such fighting talk. He respects Andrew Strauss and, although he doesn’t “know him personally at all”, he places him on the same level – both as a player and a captain – as Vaughan. “He’s obviously a very strong personality with that quiet determination that sees him getting things done and achieving things with the minimum of fuss. He seems to keep an iron fist in a velvet glove,” says Smith. “He’s also media savvy. He knows when to make a little comment or quip to feed the press something tasty and maybe deflect their attention from matters closer to home. He’s smart.” The ICC Champions Trophy clash at Centurion three years ago, when Strauss effectively ended South Africa’s chances of progressing beyond the group stage by denying Smith a runner towards the end of an epic innings is now well and truly “gone” – at least from Smith’s point of view. “I had cramp and Andrew was perfectly entitled to say ‘no’. I was disappointed afterwards, but more because I got cramp than about his decision. I would probably have done exactly the same thing.” It sounds as though Smith doesn’t rate the chances of continuing with the “England captain slayer” reputation. He laughs. “I could sense the pressure building on Strauss before the West Indies tour and I couldn’t help putting two and two together. What if they had a bad series against the Windies and he didn’t score many runs? And then we arrive… I could see how it might have happened. But I’m pretty sure those two hundreds have made him safe now.”
The other piece of England news to have interested the South African captain recently was Kevin Pietersen’s retirement from ODIs – and, as a contractual side-effect, Twenty20 internationals. Smith admits he himself found the transition after last year’s World Cup from oneday captain to senior player under the leadership of A. B. de Villiers “incredibly difficult”, and says he will be “amazed” if Pietersen doesn’t find it considerably harder not playing at all. “It’s impossible to know what you’re giving up, and how hard it will hit you, until it’s gone,” he says. “Oneday cricket has been a big part of his life for a very long time and, right now, he thinks he can just walk away from it. Maybe he can. But I think he’ll quickly find there’s a big hole in his life which isn’t as easy to cope with as he may think. “I don’t have any inside information at all, so I’m just looking from the outside, but if there’s any truth that his decision was partly based on the disagreements he had with the ECB and the way they treated him, then I believe he’ll find it even harder to come to terms with the way his one-day career has ended. He just seemed to be back to his aggressive, attacking best, too. Very strange that he should give it away.” So does Smith see a KP comeback? The smile is noncommittal. “He’s just turned 32, only a bit older than me. And I’ve had far more physical problems than him. But I reckon my best ODI form is ahead of me, not behind me. I’m very keen to play limited-overs cricket and I’m still very ambitious.” The World Cup in India was the low point of his career, and he speaks with unusual – perhaps even alarming – candour for a man who possesses a stiffer upper lip than many Englishmen. Not only did South Africa crash out with typical ignominy in the quarterfinals, but Smith failed to score a single fifty, and was vilified by critics for choosing to visit fiancée Morgan Deane in Ireland rather than return home with his team-mates. “It hit me hard, and I was a bit lost for a while afterwards,” he admits. “My confidence was affected and I needed a lot of time to reflect on the game and its place in my life – and my place in it. But the best way to get over a disappointment is to put it right, if you’re lucky enough to have that opportunity. And I did.” He is as excited about this tour as any – and it’s not just because the No. 1 Test ranking is up for grabs. It may sound a trifle absurd to wonder about an element of anticlimax four years after South Africa’s dramatic 2–1 series victory in 2008 and, in particular, Smith’s oncein-a-lifetime, match-winning 154 not out at Edgbaston. But it meant so much to so many of the players that it seems only logical to wonder whether they might have a problem getting themselves up for it again. Smith replies: “Apart from the World Cup, we’ve achieved all the really big goals in the game. We’ve won Test series against pretty much everyone, home and continued overleaf Wisden EXTRA • England v South Africa
3