THE feats of Graeme Smith has well and truely buried England under a heap of agony, and it would take something special on the part of the latter to turn things around. It has already claimed two major casualties — Nasser Hussain’s resignation from captaincy, and Darren Gough’s decision to bring the curtain down on his Test career — but that is only till the time of writing. If it causes some more dents to the English machinery, I won’t be surprised.
His back-to-back double hundreds, and, indeed, his overall hunger for runs of which his relatively nascent career record is an ample proof, has already ensured a long-term place in the record books for Graeme Smith. In fact, it would not be an overstatement to honour him with the title of the African Bradman.
It was my innings of 271 at Edgebeston way back in 1971 that earned me the tag of Asian Bradman, a tag that I have always valued and enjoyed. If I remember it right, it was first used by some British newspaper, which in itself was an honour because the British media is not one of the friendliest in terms of treating foreign teams on their soil.
Repeated mentions of it were made during my County years, specially when I scored a string of double centuries and century in the two innings of a match more than once. Almost everyone covering sports in the cricketing world made a particular note to mention the tag when I completed my hundredth century, a century of centuries, and not much different was the occasion when they wrote my cricketing obituary. This is just in the spirit of letting you know how valued it has been for me. Had it not been so, I would not have remembered it like I do.
The British media apparently has not been so amused by Smith’s feats, otherwise the accolades would have been more meaningful than what they have been. It may be because when I scored my two double-hundreds against England — 1971 and 1974 — Pakistan could not hit the final nail in the coffin, and the two matches ended in a draw.
But the South Africans have not wasted the opportunity created by Smith. It was only rain that saved the English skin in the first Test, but with sun shining gloriously in the second Test, there was no hiding. That may well be the reason why the praise has not been as wholesome as it would have been otherwise.
But as far as I am concerned, Smith, for me, is the African Bradman, and I wish him well in the future, and would keep an eye on his progress in the Test arena. I have already heard a few of the former players doing the commentary talk about a hint of extra bottom hand in Smith’s style, and the grave possibilities that may result as a consequence. All I wish to say is that no person can claim to have a hundred per cent copybook style and technique. And this includes the great Don, the original Bradman.
If a player is comfortable with a certain stance, grip or action, no effort should be made to change it just for the sake of bringing it in line with the copybook format. Yes, it must be rectified if it is found to hamper the natural flow of the body movement, but not otherwise.
On my first tour to England, I remember there were many who gave me no chance of even minor success in view of my high backlift. They said it would be a disaster in England where weather and pitch join hands to make the ball play all sorts of tricks, and with a high backlift I would struggle to put bat to ball. As it turned out, I played most of my professional cricket in England, and had a whale of a time. So much for experts and analysts!
Smith will do well to ignore the pundits, and let the willow do the talking, Bradman style of course.
THE feats of Graeme Smith has well and truely buried England under a heap of agony, and it would take something special on the part of the latter to turn things around. It has already claimed two major casualties — Nasser Hussain’s resignation from captaincy, and Darren Gough’s decision to bring the curtain down on his Test career — but that is only till the time of writing. If it causes some more dents to the English machinery, I won’t be surprised.
