Graeme Smith, Cry Cry Baby
Wed, Feb 4, '04
The more you hear from South African captain Graeme Smith, the more likely you are to feel the man is a cry cry baby. Every time his team is on the losing end, South Africa's biggest cry cry baby begins to bellyache.
Firstly, it was bad umpiring decisions which cost his team the series against Pakistan last year. Smith went out on a limb to pound the umpiring in the series, calling for the third umpire to have a greater say in close decisions.
He was clearly incensed at the number of close decisions which went against South Africa and at the end of the series, made an appeal for better umpires generally, and more use of the third umpire.
And now that his team has been beaten fair and square in the fourth One-day International, Smith pampers his followers by claiming that his players are jaded.
You wouldn't believe that this was a team which made 297 runs in 50 overs. I wonder how much they would have made if his players were not jaded.
In terms of leadership, and certainly as far as I am concerned, the South African captain cannot handle pressure. Look back to the Test series and check his response every time that South Africa came under a little pressure.
The fourth One-Dayer was really hitting the nail on the head. If the West Indies had batted first and made 297 and lost, all the cricketing world and moreso West Indians, would have been bad mouthing the team and in particular, the skipper, Brian Lara.
But Smith? Nobody questions how pathetic his leadership skills were in the one match in which he came under extensive pressure.
Not that it worries me too much.
What worries me is the fact that our own players in South Africa have failed to recognise and capitalise on this? I am wondering whether Logie, Lara, Benjamin and the other technical people have the time to sit around the table and come up with a game plan ? look at the weak areas of the opposition and capitalise on it.
I have seen very little evidence of that.
I remember during the years of success, the West Indies team usually targeted the opposition's captain. People like David Gower, Mike Atherton and Alan Border got special treatment whenever they came to the wicket. Captains Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards always reserved a little something extra for these guys, knowing that once the head was intimidated, the tail would hardly survive.
Unfortunately for these teams, these guys were usually the outstanding players so that when they failed, the other players found it extremely difficult to succeed.
In the South African context, Smith would hardly be the 'stand out' batsman, but the way I see it, once the leader is failing, there will always be problems.
Firstly, he would not have the moral authority to question others who are not playing well, if he himself, is not performing. And then there is the whole question of the uncertainty that this leads to among the team.
Smith must remember that in most of the games, certainly the One-dayers, South Africa have always held the upper hand because of the toss and weather conditions.
It would have been so nice for him to say that on the day, the West Indies were clearly the better team. That to me, was the reason Lara's men won.
And if they can repeat that performance today, Smith will have to find another excuse because the West Indies will square the series.
* Valentino Singh is sports editor of the Trinidad Guardian, where this column first appeared.
