Smith : From pariah to messiah

[Lord]

BRAVEST MAN IN WORLD CRICKET TODAY- http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/ausvrsa2008_09/content/current/story/385632.html

[Dravid]

amazing ****

[diegovegaz]

he has proven once again than he can go to any height(or depth in this case) for his team's cause it was very much inspiring to see him come out to bat in pursuit to save the match, he leads by example, no wonder the crowd were completely in awe of this great man!!!! terrific show of spirit!!!

[Macj]

Smith - Respect. Kallis - Proudly a fat @$$ waste of bench space.

[Shane]

:salute:

[flamy]

good to see a test series in australia too being played in a highly competitive manner but still with great sportsmanship. says alot about the opposition. respect to SA

oooooo a coy whisper there...

[Feed]

Smith : From pariah to messiah "It was quite a lovely time in the changeroom," Amla said of the prelude to Graeme Smith's attempt to save his country from defeat in Sydney. "Although we've lost the match, it was just a very warming experience for the whole team." More... From pariah to messiah Peter Hanlon January 9, 2009 Respect: South Africa's captain Graeme Smith shows his appreciation to the MCG crowd. HASHIM Amla was still drifting into a state of misty-eyed awe yesterday, painting a Cleopatran scene as he recalled South Africa's cricketers fussing over their captain like chambermaids — fastening pads, attaching armguards and offering soothing words of encouragement. "It was quite a lovely time in the changeroom," Amla said of the prelude to Graeme Smith's attempt to save his country from defeat in Sydney. "Although we've lost the match, it was just a very warming experience for the whole team." There has never been any doubt as to the regard in which Smith is held by his players; as coach Mickey Arthur reiterated yesterday, the respect he commands is immense. "He has an aura about him — when he walks into the room, people listen." What has been remarkable as this watershed series has unfolded is Smith's reinvention in the eyes of a hard-marking local audience. "I can't believe I've come around to liking this bloke," is a sentiment heard in living rooms and front bars as often this summer as, "drop Hayden". Three years ago, as a 24-year-old novice captain determined to assert himself against an opponent not given to putting out the welcome mat, he came across as an arrogant prat. Or perhaps even the less-savoury four-letter word Smith used when asking Darren Berry if that's what he thought of him as the two got to know each other on Indian Premier League duty last year. Berry, Shane Warne's right-hand man with the championship-winning Rajasthan Royals, for whom Smith opened the batting, had met South Africa's captain only once, interviewing him at a Docklands function during the Australia v World XI experiment in 2005. "I thought he was a bit smug, a little bit arrogant," Berry recalls. When they hooked up in India last year, the conversation soon turned to how Australians saw Smith. "He said, 'The perception's not good, is it?' " Horrible, was Berry's reply. Less than a year on, Berry rates Smith among the most genuine, down-to-earth and honest men he has met in cricket. His last Australian experience, Berry says, taught him that false bravado and churlishness were not only out of character, they neither did him nor his team any good. "He knows he was given the captaincy too young, that he didn't listen to anybody and said, 'I know I can do it, I'll show you'. He didn't have the life experience to cope with captaining an international side," Berry says. "He said to me in India, 'Chuck, when they made me captain I just wasn't ready. And the best way I knew was to just stick my chest out, and when Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath had a go at me, the South African way is to have a go back'." It was a recipe for disaster, the tourists losing the three-Test series of 2005-06 comfortably and a bullish Smith alienating himself from opponents and watchers alike. That he was already off the Christmas card list for detailing the nature of Matthew Hayden's sledging in a 2002 interview makes the transformation all the more noteworthy. Berry says the insecurity born of trying to prove himself is gone, allowing Smith's caring personality and dry, clever sense of humour to dominate. Royals team meetings were bookended by Warne, with Berry and the psychology guru Jeremy Snape filling in the middle, and Smith a constant source of knowledge and amusement. "He always had, number one, some input from a cricket point of view, but always some humour to add to it as well. It was a really nice balance," Berry says. "In India, he was outstanding for the young kids in the team. The opening partnership he had with Swapnil (Asnodkar), the little right-hander who slogged them for us, he was like a big brother for him. He was the ideal person to work with — a caring, understanding, empathetic person, all the traits that have made him into a wonderful captain that his team certainly follows. I'd say he's one of the most misunderstood blokes in world cricket." Arthur agrees that Smith was misjudged on his last visit — not only here, but by many in South Africa — but insists that has never been the case within the team. He, too, has been warmed by the reception afforded not only the captain, but all in the touring party. "To win over the Australian public you have to do something special," Arthur says. "The respect he's received and we've all received has been very, very rewarding. Australians have warmed to us, but also like the brand we're playing and like what the team stands for." Winning is one thing, but leaving such a mark clearly moved Arthur. "I think it's hugely important. You want to be remembered for the cricket you play, but you also want to be remembered for the team and people that you are. That, for us, is unbelievably important." Many whose opinion of Smith has flipped 180 degrees have seen qualities in him they like to see in themselves; the national stereotypes are not too far apart, a point Amla underlined yesterday when he said his captain's courage in batting on Wednesday evening showed "the typical South African spirit". Berry was driving at the time, listening on the radio, and knew Smith would bat — maybe even as far out as 20 overs from the end if the ninth wicket had fallen. "He's not the fittest athlete in the world, but he's one of those hard-nut, cricket-tough people." Strip back the hyperbole and it was no less than would be expected of any Test captain — especially one so adamant that his team would not lose the dead rubber after winning the series, as it did in England only months earlier. The truly amazing thing, says Berry, was the reception he received. "I've never seen an Australian crowd give a standing ovation to an Australian captain as he walks to the wicket, let alone Graeme Smith! I think it was a great moment in sport." The last word of this unexpected love-in goes to Hayden, who Smith so infamously "dobbed on", reporting that Hayden greeted him in his second Test innings with the tirade: "You know, you're not f---ing good enough. How the f--- are you going to handle Shane Warne when he's bowling in the rough? What the f--- are you going to do?" Yesterday, Hayden likened his toughness to that of his great mate Justin Langer. "Graeme I think has had an amazing strength about his personality over a long and distinguished career. As a Test opener to average over 50 — respect. And to do that as captain of a side which has been through its troughs and is now enjoying a peak, again — respect."

[Fontaine]

Eh no big deal. I've known a few people, including myself who's played basketball with fractured fingers, bone chips in ankles. Once you get over the pain it's not too bad. Ofcourse a shot of cortizone always helps.

[Dravid]

how dare you compare basketball with cricket? take it back! :mad: :-p

[Guest Hiten.]

how dare you compare...with cricket? take it back! :mad: :-p

Dude stop being racist :mad:

[Dravid]

Dude stop being racist :mad:

...... is not racist, candian trash :finger: damn paki, always making it a race issue