Graeme Smith: The Don Bradman of run chases

Graeme Smith was the first to score a thousand fourth-innings runs in successful chases.

The sudden retirement of Graeme Smith has cast a shadow of gloom on world cricket. He was the kid who had grown with the new millennium and had emerged as the General of an all-conquering side. Abhishek Mukherjee provides a statistical insight into Smith’s career.

It’s all over, then. Graeme Craig Smith has left the arena for the one final time. He has been that rare combination of the wily schemer and the commander who lead from the front and had managed to stay away from limelight at the same time. One of the finest captains in the history of the sport, Smith’s batsmanship has not been one of the most discussed topics. And yet, in the colossal shadows of and soon-to-be-greats like AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla, Smith had created his own niche as a batsman.

The numbers concerning Smith’s excellent record as a captain have been covered in details in Arunabha Sengupta’s excellent article. The objective of this article is to showcase Smith’s contribution to his side as a batsman.

To start with, Smith ranks twelfth among all batsmen in history, which is no mean feat. What must be noted here is the fact that Smith remains the first player to quit Tests in the 9,000s, which says a thing or two of his selfless attitude.

Most runs
Player	M	Runs	Ave	100s	50s
Sachin Tendulkar	200	15,921	53.78	51	68
Ricky Ponting	168	13,378	51.85	41	62
Jacques Kallis	166	13,289	55.37	45	58
Rahul Dravid	164	13,288	52.31	36	63
Brian Lara	131	11,953	52.88	34	48
Mahela Jayawardene	143	11,319	50.30	33	46
Shivnarine Chanderpaul	153	11,219	51.93	29	62
Allan Border	156	11,174	50.56	27	63
Kumar Sangakkara	122	11,151	58.07	35	45
Steve Waugh	168	10,927	51.06	32	50
Sunil Gavaskar	125	10,122	51.12	34	45
Graeme Smith	117	9,265	48.25	27	38

Note: All records are updated till Smith’s retirement.

It must be remembered, though, that Smith has decided to call it quits at an age of 33. If we check careers for players with ages up to 33 at the start of the Tests, Smith moves up to the fifth position ahead of some of the legends of the sport.

Most runs (age up to 33)
Player	M	Runs	Ave	100s	50s
Sachin Tendulkar	135	10,668	54.70	35	43
Ricky Ponting	126	10,497	56.74	36	42
Jacques Kallis	131	10,277	54.66	31	51
Mahela Jayawardene	117	9,546	53.32	28	38
Graeme Smith	117	9,265	48.25	27	38
Rahul Dravid	107	9,174	57.33	23	46
Kumar Sangakkara	102	8,972	56.42	26	37
Virender Sehwag	98	8,306	50.64	22	32
Michael Clarke	105	8,240	51.50	27	27
Kevin Pietersen	104	8,181	47.28	23	35

Note: All records are updated till Smith’s retirement.

In terms of hundreds by 33, too, his 27 hundreds are next to the tallies of only Ricky Ponting (36), Sachin Tendulkar (35), Jacques Kallis (31), and Mahela Jayawardene (28), and at par with Sunil Gavaskar and Michael Clarke (27 each).

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Of course, as captain, nobody matches Smith’s aggregates — but a lot of that has to do with the fact that he has played more Tests as a captain than anyone else. At 8,659 runs with 25 hundreds and 36 fifties (which amount to 61 scores above 50) he towers above his nearest rivals — Border (6,623), Ponting (19), and Ponting (54).

Catch all the stories related to Graeme Smith’s retirement here

Smith’s magical year was 2008 — when he went past some of the legends of the sport and posted the third-highest aggregate for a single calendar year. 1,656 runs at 72 do not come easily.

Most runs in a calendar year
Player	Year	M	Runs	Ave	100s	50s
Mohammad Yousuf	2006	11	1,788	99.33	9	3
Viv Richards	1976	11	1,710	90.00	7	5
Graeme Smith	2008	15	1,656	72.00	6	6
Michael Clarke	2012	11	1,595	106.33	5	3
Sachin Tendulkar	2010	14	1,562	78.10	7	5
Sunil Gavaskar	1979	18	1,555	59.80	5	8
Ricky Ponting	2005	15	1,544	67.13	6	6
Ricky Ponting	2003	11	1,503	100.20	6	4
Michael Vaughan	2002	14	1,481	61.70	6	2
Justin Langer	2004	14	1,481	54.85	5	4

Note: All records are updated till Smith’s retirement.

What made Smith really stand out, however, is his performance in the final innings of matches. The numbers show how instrumental Smith had been under pressure. In fourth innings his aggregate (1,611 runs at 51.96) has been marginally second to only Tendulkar (1,625 runs at 36.93). It must be kept in mind that Smith had batted in 41 innings compared to Tendulkar’s 60.

If one puts a 1,000-run restriction on the fourth-innings performances, Smith ends up quite high on the list:

Best averages in fourth innings (over 1,000 runs)
Player	M	Runs	Ave	100s	50s
Geoff Boycott	36	1,234	58.76	3	7
Sunil Gavaskar	34	1,398	58.25	4	8
Younis Khan	35	1,110	55.50	4	5
Gordon Greenidge	41	1,383	53.19	3	6
Graeme Smith	42	1,611	51.96	4	9
Ricky Ponting	56	1,462	50.41	4	6
Matthew Hayden	39	1,287	49.50	1	9
Mahela Jayawardene	44	1,042	45.30	3	5
Graham Gooch	30	1,121	44.84	3	5
Shivnarine Chanderpaul	57	1,518	44.64	2	11

Note: All records are updated till Smith’s retirement.

In successful chases, however, Smith’s numbers are next to none: Smith is the only man to have scored over a thousand Test runs in successful chases (1,141 runs from 22 innings at a Bradmanesque 87.76 with a record 4 hundreds). Along with Ponting (another champion in another champion side) he can safely be called the best batsman in history in successful chases. The table below is perhaps the greatest proof of why some sides turn out to be champions and some do not.

Best averages in successful chases (over 500 runs)
Player	M	Runs	Ave	100s	50s
Graeme Smith	22	1,141	87.76	4	6
Ricky Ponting	35	911	82.81	3	4
Desmond Haynes	30	809	67.41	1	4
Gary Kirsten	20	605	67.22	0	5
Gordon Greenidge	26	850	65.38	1	4
Sachin Tendulkar	28	715	59.58	1	4
Matthew Hayden	27	913	57.06	1	6
Rahul Dravid	24	511	56.77	0	3
Hashim Amla	16	518	51.80	1	3
Justin Langer	27	849	49.94	2	5

Note: All records are updated till Smith’s retirement.

So, what is it they say about leading from the front?

(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Deputy Editor and Cricket Historian at CricketCountry. He blogs at http://ovshake.blogspot.in and can be followed on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ovshake42)

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