Michael Vaughan praise the omnipresence of Captain Smith - Cricket News Update
Former England captain, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/GC-Smith-c1473, who is expected to become the all-time longest serving captain in the history of the game, terming his stint as terrific.
"He's a terrific captain," said Vaughan. "To have taken the job so young and to still be doing it now is quite an effort
When the third and final Test of the series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Allan-Robert-Border-c43726 (93) for the most Test matches as captain, currently standing on 92 following the start
of the Oval Test.
In the aftermath of the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wessel-Johannes-Cronje-c96502 scandal and the debacle at the 2003 World Cup, a young 22-year-old Smith was given the reins of leading the national side when his own career was only 6 matches old.
He went to England in the summer of 2003, his first tour as captain, and started off the series in a Bradmanesque way, striking 277 at Edgbaston which proved to be Nasser Hussain’s last match as English skipper.
Michael Vaughan took charge for the second Test at Lord’s and he was greeted by another double-ton, a 259-run knock this time, which led to an innings defeat to the home side and first victory for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Smith-c90598, as a captain.
"It's a huge achievement because it's not just about captaining a cricket team in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757, you're also a political leader. The pressure that he would have been under off the field would have been massive," Vaughan further added.
Smith’s success has come largely due to an array of talented cricketers produced by South Africa, including world class bowlers in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gary-Kirsten-c58527, Jacques
Kallis and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MV-Boucher-c2048.
However, above all, it was his role as an opening batsman which allowed him to lead from the front and for over a decade, he has remained the mainstay of the Proteas batting lineup.
"He's a great leader with the bat," added Vaughan. "That's his main strength, he goes out and leads from the front," the former English captain further added.
In his 99 Test career, the colossus from Johannesburg has scored 8042 at an average just shy of 50 and is currently the second highest scorer for his country behind Kallis and second highest scoring opener in the world behind http://www.senore.com/Cricket/V-Sehwag-c2739.
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