Graeme Smith Captaincy Record in Test, ODI, and T20I

After Hansie Cronje, South Africa needed a captain to strengthen the team, and Graeme Smith was chosen at that point. In between Hansie and Graeme Smith, there was a period of Shaun Pollock’s captaincy that ended in 2003. This decision to appoint Graeme Smith as a captain proved to be very successful because he scored different records as a captain. This demonstrates that he liked his time in cricket as a captain and a leader.

Smith is honored to be a member of all four of South Africa’s opening partnerships with over 300 runs. He is most known for the success of his opening partnership with Herschelle Gibbs, the most successful opening couple in South Africa’s history.
He led South Africa to multiple victories as captain, but he could not take home any major championships. He served South Africa both in and out of the country with bat and captaincy skills.

Graeme Smith Captaincy Record in International Cricket

Graeme Smith led South Africa in 284 matches, winning 163 and losing 88 with a win rate of 57. Out of 284, only 05 matches ended in a draw and with no result.
He is one of the best captains in terms of having the highest win percentage across all the formats.

Steve Waugh, Virat Kohli, Ricky Ponting, and Michael Clark have high win rate than Graeme Smith.
In his captaincy era across all formats, Smith had an excellent record against the English team by winning all of the series against them under Smith’s captaincy. But things have changed a lot: after Ben Stokes took charge as English captain, and we will see how South Africa will play against England.

Graeme Smith Test Captaincy Record 

Graeme Smith led in 108 test matches, winning 53 and losing 28 matches. His win rate in test cricket is 49 percent, while 27 matches ended in draw.

South Africa played 39 test series under the captaincy of Graeme Smith, winning 22 and losing only 08 test series. A total of 09 test series ended in draw. Under his captaincy, South Africa won test series against all big top-ranked test-playing nations.

Graeme Smith ODI Captaincy Record

In ODI cricket, Graeme Smith led South Africa in 149 matches, winning 92 and losing 51. His win percentage in ODI cricket for South Africa was 61, which shows his outstanding captaincy skills in the shorter format of the game.

South Africa had an outstanding ODI series record in the Bilateral series, winning 21 out of 26 matches and losing only 04 series. This is one of the best ODI series records in cricket history by any captain in ODI cricket. The only teams against which Graeme Smith lost the series were New Zealand, England, and Sri Lanka.

Graeme Smith T20I Captaincy Record

Graeme Smith was the first captain to lead South Africa in T20I cricket. In 27 total matches, he won 18 and lost 09 matches. His win-to-loss ratio is 2.0 which is an incredible record.

Graeme Smith in World Cup and Champion Trophy

Graeme Smith had an excellent record in big tournaments like ICC Champions Trophy and World Cup, with a majority of wins (11) in the ODI World Cup. But it was unfortunate that he could not claim any victories throughout his time as captain. His only big success came in T20 World Cup 2009 when his team reached the semi-final of T20 World Cup. But South Africa lost this match against Pakistan due to the best performance by Shahid Afridi.

Graeme Smith Batting Stats as Captain

He has scored the highest runs as a captain for South Africa. In 284 games, he scored 14866 runs with a batting average of 43. During his captaincy, he smashed 77 fifties and 33 centuries. He has the second most runs for winning cause (9086) as a captain after Rickey Ponting. The below table shows his runs as captain in different formats.