SARrugby.com

 I heard the rumour this morning that greame has been offered a lucrative english county contract and that he might take it retiring from international cricket.

If this is true It might be the opportunity we have been waitning for to give Quintin de Kock exposure. Test cricket might be good for his innitial exposure, look at what it did for Amla. So just a plain replacement at the top of the order with Quitin moving it as opener and keeping as wel?

Ek

I was probably the first person on any forum to support the potential selection and appointment of Graeme Smith as player and captain - but over the years something went wrong with his batting technique and he became less effective.    That resulted in him being less effective in scoring runs and before the present tour to England he relly scored a limited number of runs - he was more consitent during the latter tour.   Under he circumstances it may be better if he reires from international cricket.

Yes - I do agree with you about him being replaced by Quinton - it would be the best thing that could happen.

By the way - I watched the cricket yesterday and the matches was very interesting in Group 1.   Allow me to make a few observations:-

*    According to an opinion pool - Group 1 is the weaker of the two Groups

*    I thought that England is not adjusting to the sub-continent conditions

*    The Windies lack a fast bowling attack and their fielding - bar the catch of Bairstow was nothing to write home about.

*    I thought initially that SriLanka would beat New Zealand - but that was tight indeed.

I still think England will not make it into the semis - I orifinally said that the two teams to go through would be the Windies and SriLanka - and it looks very much that it could be the case.

Insofar as Group 2 is concerned our players would have to be top-notch for us to go through.  Hope they do play out of their skins though.      

 Mike i will only be able to really judge if we have the mettle to go through after today's game. Pakistan are starting with 4 spinners. Largely it's not the fast bowlers that have been effective in this tournament. We have robbie P in as well so we have also done the same playing with both our front line spinners. Should be interesting. I agree i reckon our pool is the more difficult of the S8 pools. but that is not to say that i think the other pool is really much easier. 

Back to the topic though, Apparently the offer to Greame came from Surrey and as captain as well. Will wait and see. Will be good for his career to end there. I hold nothing against the guy really, I understand he is not everyone's cup of tea, but he has given his all and taken us to the Nr1 test spot in the world. He can retire happy.

Speaking of retirement.. I think Jaques Kallis should retire from test cricket as well, It will prolong his career in the one day format, to take us to the world cup. And it will teach the Test side to get along without him which is a lesson we need to learn quick. But just my opinion though.

This is the article:

Mike an average round 50 for an opening bat over this length of time is outstanding!!!!!!!!!!!!!

31 is too yong to retire

Beeno

Your comment is a real joke - Smith started off like a steam trainand had a massive average in the first two years he played for South Africa - eg two early tests wher ehe scored 200 plus runs each.   After about year 2 the international teams identified deficiencies in Smith's batting technique snd started to exploit his deficiencies.   His tendency to score runs mainly on the off-side was plugged up by field placings - he was also often caught behind or LBW.   Hust check the stats over the last three years and you will see what really happened.   At one stage he made a reasonable number of runs in every seventh innings he bat - for the rest he was always out for less than 30 runs.  

In the 98 tests he played in he scored 8030 test runs - not even remotely the 10 000 plus runs scored by other top batters.  In 151 ODI's he scored 6 598 runs - also not world record breaking stuff.   Problem is  most of the runs scored by him was early in his career - there was a downward trend over the last three years in his averge.  declined from 57 to 49 = which confirms my comments above.

My contention is that he is not irreplacable.   He is a player whom the opposition jas analyzed and to some extend limited in his abilityto score runs.

Wake up and smell the roses - if you keep reading what I write you may sometime in the next deeade start to learn the wider contect of issues.

AB made a huge mistake today in using the bowlers.   Instead of continueing with Duminy - he brought on Kallis - who in one over gabe away 25 runs.   Next he brought on Albie and with that the Pakistanis was placed in a position where they could win.   Keeping Duminy on fortwo more overs would have sealed the game in our favour.   The pitch doid not really favour fast bowling and it would have been better to play Faf for his bowling than to play Levy.   But that is being wise after the fact

Seems the Rumours are true!

SPORT 24:

London - South Africa cricket captain Graeme Smith has joined Surrey as their new skipper, the English county announced on Thursday, in a move that will prompt fresh speculation about his international future.

Smith, currently leading the Proteas on their tour of Australia, will join Oval-based Surrey after the conclusion of South Africa's home series against Pakistan in March, in time for the start of the 2013 English domestic season.

The 31-year-old opener stood down as South Africa's one-day captain after last year's World Cup and no longer plays Twenty20 internationals.

But he insisted that he still wanted to continue representing his country, despite signing a three-year deal with Surrey.

"I am excited about what we can achieve at Surrey going forward and would like to state very clearly that I will balance my new role alongside my continuing commitments to the Proteas and I look forward to continuing to represent my country for many years to come," he said in a statement issued by the First Division county.

Smith has been South Africa captain since 2003, having first led his country aged just 22, and this year guided the Proteas to the top of the world Test rankings after a series win in England.

It was at The Oval in June where Smith, who has been captain in an extraordinary 94 of his 102 Tests, became only the seventh player in history to score a hundred in his 100th Test, when he made 131.

He replaces Rory Hamilton-Brown who stood down as Surrey captain, and who has since joined Sussex, following the death of his friend and team-mate Tom Maynard in June.

Smith, who had initially played down reports of a move to the county, said: "I am excited to be joining such a professional and talented team, during what will hopefully prove to be a rewarding and successful period for Surrey CCC.

"When you consider the ambition shown it was an easy decision for myself and my family and I would like to thank Surrey County Cricket Club and Cricket South Africa for giving me the opportunity to lead the side and make it possible."

The timing of the announcement could prove a distraction to the Proteas ahead of the start of a three-Test series against Australia in Brisbane a week on Friday.

In addition to his leadership qualities, left-hander Smith is widely regarded as one of the world's leading batsmen with a Test record of 8 314 runs at an average of just under 50, including 25 hundreds.

"Signing Graeme Smith on a three-year deal is a massive coup for Surrey CCC," said team director and former England batsman Chris Adams.

"As well as being one of the best captains in the modern game, he is a phenomenal opening batsman and will lead by example from the top of the innings.

"By signing a three-year deal, Graeme has demonstrated his commitment to Surrey on a long-term basis and I look forward to working alongside him and the rest of our hugely talented squad to bring more silverware to this club in the near future."

@clever

YOu are such a cock.

Your opinion of Smith makes no sense.

GO and read my dig at you in my previous thread on the matter.

His stats have been more consistent than hair growth cream!

Stop going on about a lot of nonsense my friend

Stick to rugga, you seem to be abe to hold your own over on that side.

@ everyone else... All you guys are such women! Stop jumping to conclusions. SMith is going no where... go listen to Chris Adams interview on Cricinfo... SMith is firmly committed to SA and Surrey have made provision for that in his contract!

Come on idiots!