Happy Birthday, Graeme Smith! Cricketing Great and Current Cricket South Africa Director Turns 41

Happy Birthday, Graeme Smith! Cricketing Great and Current Cricket South Africa Director Turns 41

Keba Mothoagae
updated at April 12, 2023 at 7:55 PM
  • Former Proteas batsman and captain, current Cricket South Africa director of cricket and bona fide great, Graeme Smith, celebrates his 41st birthday today
  • "Biff" - as he is known in cricketing circles - was born in Johannesburg on 1 February, 1981, also attending the cricket nursery that is King Edward VII School
  • Smith is one of the most distinguished players in the sport's history, holding records which may never be broken

Legendary former Proteas batsman and current Cricket South Africa director of cricket turns 41 today.

Smith, known by his nickname "Biff" (in allusion to his size), was born on 1 February, 1981 in Johannesburg. He is an alumni of King Edward VII School in Houghton, which has produced other Proteas like Quinton de Kock, Stephan Cook, Dane Vilas and Neil McKenzie.

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Graeme Smith bats for the Proteas against Pakistan. Image sources: Petri Oeschger/Getty Images
Source: Getty Images

According to Cricinfo, Smith played for Western Province-Boland, the Cape Cobras, Rajasthan Royals (Indian Premier League), Somerset and Surrey (both in England). One of his notable achievements was becoming the youngest captain at 22 years to lead South Africa back in 2003, as per ESPN.

He made his international debut in a Test match on 8 March, 2002 vs Australia, his ODI debut on 30 March, 2002 vs Australia, and his T201 bow on 21 October, 2005 vs New Zealand. As stated on Indian Fantasy, he played 347 games for South Africa, including 116 Tests and 109 matches as a Test captain.

Graeme is the only player to have captained a nation in 100 test matches (108) and also has the most matches won by a test captain at 53, as detailed by News18.

Smith highest score in tests was 277, 141 in One Day Internationals, 89 in Twenty20s and 311 in first-class matches. Interestingly, the Proteas did not lose a single test match in which he scored a century, which is an impressive 27 games, according to Sportsadda.

Graeme Smith and Mzansi come out in praise of the Proteas

Graeme Smith recently scored a significant win as an administrator in his director of cricket role at Cricket South Africa.

As reported on Sports Brief, Smith was one of many South Africans who congratulated the Proteas for their unexpected but outstanding victories over India.

They defeated the much-fancied Indians 2-1 in the test series before whitewashing them 3-0 in the One Day Internationals.

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