Memories of Captain Smith

On the 30th of December 2002 I packed my worldly posessions into my newly purchased '98 Citi Golf and drove the Garden Route to Cape Town, leaving my parent's house behind me to start my first job in an unfamiliar city. The car wasn't very full. January 2003 was spent sleeping on the floor of a rented bachelor flat. My first paycheck arrived on the 25th and because the World Cup was around the corner I bought a television and stood it against the wall on top of the box it came in. In February I watched the Proteas knocked out of the tournament, and slept on the floor for another month.

Graeme Smith and I are just about the same age. I remember being struck by this when he was first drafted into the side in 2002. The other cricketers in the national side at the time were clearly older guys than myself. But Smith wasn't. Suddenly growing up didn't seem that far away. Except for my lack of any actual skill at playing the game - a pesky detail that many sports fans must face - I was able to look at him and said to myself "that could be me".

Later in 2003 I remember evenings spent at my flat window, beer can in my hand, looking out over the shadows lengthening over Rondebosch and listening on the radio (or following on cricinfo, I forget) as Smith, now captain, piled up the runs against Nasser "what's-his-name" Hussain's England. The poms burgled a drawn series there, but Smith claimed the first of his three English captain scalps as Hussain resigned.

South African cricketers will always be divided into two groups for me: pre-Smith and post-Smith. Those before him belong to my father's sporting generation. I remember seeing them on TV from the vantage point of his couch or with him in the stands at St Georges Park, watching the isolation era Currie Cup and then later as Kepler and Hansie led the return to international cricket; the memories of scholar and a student. My memories of Proteas cricketers from Smith onwards are from a different city, with different company and part of a different life.

My second last year renting that bachelor flat in Rondebosch was 2006. On the same television, still sitting on it's box, I remember watching the 438 game. Most of the Australian innings was spent not watching the set, but the same can't be said for the three hours after that. Gibbs rightly gets remembered for his batting that day, but Smith's rapid-fire batting first up is what set the pace and made us all believe it was possible. It seldom gets the credit it deserves (and neither does van der Wath's manic 30 in the dying overs of the chase).

I suspect that history will largely remember Graeme Smith for the last five years of his captaincy. The Proteas team that he led from 2008 to 2013 dominated home and away, failing only to bring home any ICC silverware. His record as a batsman will always fall just slightly short of the greats, especially after a year of poor form at the tail end. Despite that he still rates as the greatest opening batsman South Africa has produced. If his feats as a captain outshine those as a batsman it is only because the former are so memorable.

I will remember Smith as the sportsman who divided my childhood from my adulthood. Eleven years after I watched him take Jonty's place in the 2003 World Cup squad, we both have young families and different priorities. The world has moved on from the days of our youth. Good luck and godspeed where ever life takes you from here Graeme. Thanks for all the memories.

On Statistics And This Blog

As I type the rain is falling in Cape Town and there's only one team that can win the deciding Test from here. Clarke and his top order have picked the right game to get their act together. I don't expect many more interruptions of play, so a result is entirely possible. We'll need to see what the next nine sessions bring, but a post on whatever those events are will have to wait a little longer.

While we all wait for the start of play at Newlands (10am tomorrow folks), it's time to deploy one of my designated backup pieces: the place of statistics in this project of mine.

Along with a love of cricket I'm equally unashamed to admit a love for statistics. It was my second major at university. While that isn't much of a claim to fame, it is enough to know my correlation from my causation.

Statistics and cricket are usually thick as thieves. The nature of the game leaves much (but not enough) that can be quantified and lots of time (in hindsight) to analyse the data. It's almost an unwritten convention that no cricketing opinion should offered but that it is backed up by some or other statistical snippet.

Despite all this, you will not find many numbers quoted or stats expounded here. This might seem a strange choice and so here, for the record, are my reasons:

Time. Did I mention that I don't have much free time? Compiling accurate and enlightening stats to back up my points takes time - time that I don't have. Where I feel it matters I will usually fact check my statements. Please to go over to Statsguru and check up on me.

Redundancy. The truth is that there's nothing much that I can add to the field. Well, there may be - I have some interesting ideas for cricket stats that I'd like to see - but not without a significant investment of my time. The pages of cricket writing both online and offline already include greater volumes of commentary on and creation of cricket statistics than, frankly, is sensible or decent. I especially direct those looking for a fix of cricket statistics to the excellent writings of Kartikeya Date and Anantha Narayanan.

Lies. And damn lies, and statistics. I may not be the sharpest tool in the statistical shed, but I know enough to understand how the numbers can be shaped to support the most subjective arguments. I would rather not be part of that.

Subjectivity. Because at the end of the day these are opinion pieces. I don't want it to feel like this is a lecture hall where assertions are carefully laid out on a chalk board, explained and proven. No sir, coming here should feel like getting trapped with me against the bar of a busy pub and having to listen while I bend your ear over a couple of pints about the game that we both love.

Why Another Cricket Blog?

If one truth were to be told, I really don't have time for this. Waking life in the rat race is almost fully split between work and family, with any left over time devoted the demands of my several other hobbies. There really isn't time to do justice to a blog like this.

If another truth were to be told, if there's one thing this world does not need it's more writing about cricket. The Internet is already overflowing with cricket writing of the entire spectrum from news articles to professional bloggers to the forum posts and cricinfo comments of semi-literate but enthusiastic fans. Physical cricket books are published all the time.

A third truth, to round out three for the post, is that I read a lot about cricket. I don't really have time for that either, but I do it anyway. ESPNcricinfo is a daily destination, especially it's many excellent columnists. Two of my favourite cricket blogs are Leg Side Filth and The Old Batsman, both thoughtful and well written.

So why write articles here, despite all this? Well, cricket is a passion of mine. It occupies a share of my waking thoughts. My mother in law likens it to her soap operas - an insightful comparison.

Then there is the dearth of South African cricket bloggers. SA Cricket Blog looms largest on the scene, but to me it feels a little slick and soulless. The SuperSport Cricket Blog is a media outlet. If there are others I haven't found them yet. In the great deluge of online cricket writing I struggle to find a voice that doesn't speak with an English, Australian or Indian accent.

So there we have it. I'll give this endeavour a year and see where it goes. Perhaps I can scratch an itch and put words to some of my thoughts. Updates will be on Mondays, if I'm able to keep the content coming. Here's to 2014.

World Test XI

The end of 2013 sees the rebirth of Cricket Calls. I have a lot to say about cricket and not nearly enough time to say it. With luck I'll find time to pen some incisive rambling about world cricket from a South African perspective.

To kick things off, and to close out the old year, here is Alan's current World Text XI...

1. GC Smith (cpt)
2. DA Warner
3. HM Amla
4. RL Taylor
5. AB de Villiers (wk)
6. S Chanderpaul
7. R Ashwin
8. VD Philander
9. DW Steyn
10. RJ Harris
11. HMRKB Herath

12th man: Saeed Ajmal

Smith and Warner the top two specialist openers, the former to captain.Taylor makes a deserved debut after Hashim. de Villiers at five and keeping. Chanders rounds out the specialist batsmen.

Philander, Steyn and Herath select themselves. Ashwin gets number seven as the top ranked all rounder, and causes Harris to pip Saeed Ajmal because of the he spin option provides.