I'm a reluctant bachelor

No Not me, Smith!




I'm a reluctant bachelor
Sulaiman Philip




HERE’S no shortage of adjectives and phrases to describe him these days: brilliant, steely, driven, determined, a leader with the heart of a gladiator and the courage of Achilles, a remarkable player who has shown other captains the true meaning of what it means to be a leader.

Graeme Smith’s head must be getting as swollen as a watermelon – except of course he knows better than anyone a sportsman is only as good as his last performance. Yet it will take a long time for that innings at Edgbaston to fade from people’s memories.

Cricket experts are calling his epic six-hour, 154 not-out knock against England “one of the finest examples of leading from the front” in the history of the game. And the fact he scored his team’s winning runs off a ball delivered by his nemesis, Kevin Pietersen, must make it even sweeter.

“When I realised I could win the game with one shot it became a matter of waiting for the right ball,” he says. “It’s kind of ironic it came off Kevin’s bowling. But to tell the truth the day had been so emotionally draining it didn’t even matter.”

It’s three days since the Test and Graeme is chatting to us from London as the team prepares for the fourth and final series clash with England. He has been working with the team physiotherapist for most of the day, he tells us, trying to sort out a niggling back injury that almost kept him out of the match.

Although his mind is very much on the next Test the series is already in the bag – and his side’s 2-0 defeat of the English made it the first time since 1965 South Africa had beaten England on their home soil.

“In terms of importance for the country this innings outranks everything else,’’ a euphoric Graeme says. “Strange as it may sound though it’s a pity we didn’t get to do this at home in front of a South African crowd.

“This has been such an emotional series,’’ he adds. “It ebbed and flowed for so long – but that’s what the best Test cricket is all about. Two good teams going up against each other. Man against man. It tests the skills and character of every player.’’

The team is “over the moon’’ about the series win. “In the changeroom after the game we couldn’t stop cheering and high-fiving each other. We were at a function at the South African embassy after the game and to see everyone’s smiling faces put us back on a high.’’

IN a house in the northern suburbs of Joburg two people sat glued to their TV screen for the better part of four days – and on the fourth day it was hard for them to pry their eyes away from the action to make a cup of tea or nip to the bathroom.

Graham and Janet Smith applauded every ball their son struck, had their hearts in their throats when he was nearly run out and were in agony when the English went up for a raucous LBW appeal. They also breathed a sigh of relief when the umpire controversially decided he hadn’t been caught off a ball from Monty Panesar. And when their boy struck the winning runs Graham, an engineer, and Janet, a housewife, couldn’t contain themselves.

“My parents were in England for the first two Tests but watched the last one at home,” Graeme says. But he was on the phone to them as soon as the celebrations subsided in Birmingham, the Midlands city that’s home to Edgbaston.

“My mother was so emotional,” he says. “She was crying so much it was difficult to get a word out of her. And my dad was extremely happy. The thing is, they have to read all the criticism about me and it affects them more than it does me.

So in a way this win means so much more to them.”

Graeme has taken flak in the past when his batting has bombed and the Proteas have plummeted. He’s also been labelled arrogant and surly – but no one has a bad word to say about him right now.

The only dampener is that he doesn’t have a special person in his life to share in his triumph and he describes himself as a

reluctant bachelor.

“My life has been all about cricket for the past few years. I’ve been so intent on becoming the best captain I can be my personal life has withered.”

There has been no one since his two-year relationship with Minki Visser ended three years ago. She was Minki van der Westhuizen then and the tousle-haired model and her hunky sportsman boyfriend were one of South Africa’s golden couples. But she’s married to businessman Constant Visser now and he hasn’t had contact with her since they broke up.

He hasn’t even had so much as a brief fling in three years. “Yes, it has been lonely at times,” he admits. “But captaining SA is something I have to do. I also had to take time out to find out who Graeme Smith is. You can’t do that if you’re in a serious

relationship.”

He finds it difficult to describe his ideal woman. Love is something that “just hits you” and a girl must be herself and not try to be somebody she isn’t, he says. Although there’s no shortage of women who would love to be his partner he’s embarrassed by all

the attention.

Yet Graeme hopes he’ll find the right person to become Mrs Smith one day. He’s looking forward to life after cricket and starting a family.

“There’s still plenty I want to achieve cricket-wise,” he says. “I want to keep leading this team for as long as I can. But I can’t play cricket forever. I want to settle down and have a family.

“I come from a close-knit family so I know how important it is. I’m 27, which is still young, but settling down is definitely something I look forward to.” Until then it’s business as usual.

GRAEME’S magnificent century was his 16th Test hundred and his 14th as skipper – the same as cricket legends Don Bradman, Brian Lara and Clive Lloyd.

Only three Australians – Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting – all with 15 centuries as captains have scored more centuries than Smith, who has notched up more than 5 000 runs in his tenure as skipper.

He has been called one of the greatest SA Test captains of all time for both his leadership qualities and skills on the field. At Edgbaston he “demonstrated to England the level of persistence necessary to succeed when the odds are against him,” a British sportswriter noted. “What a leader!”

The tall, powerfully built batsman has now also dealt fatal blows to two English captains. Five years ago Nasser Hussain quit after a monumental innings from Graeme and now Michael Vaughan’s captaincy has been consigned to the scrapheap.

Regarded as one of the best captains England has ever produced, Vaughan was hammered in the British media after the series defeat and conceded it was time he handed over the reigns of responsibility to someone else. And that someone is South African-born Kevin Pietersen – the guy who called Graeme a “muppet” in his autobiography.

Yet although there’s no love lost between the two batsmen they’re both professionals and shaking each other’s hands at the start of the match is unlikely to affect either of their performances. “We have to finish this series strong and build on what we’ve achieved,” Graeme says.

The Proteas are now second in the world only to Australia and will be touring there in December. And if Graeme can pull off a series win it will be the first time they’ve managed to beat the Aussies in their backyard since SA was readmitted to international cricket.

He’s looking forward to touring again with the squad. “We’ve been together for a while now and I look around at this team and see guys with fire in their bellies,” he says.

Does he think they can beat the mighty Aussies? “Our confidence has been boosted,” he says cautiously. “But winning away from home is always difficult. And Australia presents a whole new list of challenges.”

But, as he has proved so elegantly, rising to the challenge is one thing he does so well.