Before the year started, Graeme Smith was just known for an interview he gave to Sports Illustrated in which he narrated a few nasty tales about the famous Australian sledging. In hindsight, the cry baby tag he got after that interview was out of place as is evident in the eight months that followed. 2003 has seen a roller-coaster ride for Smith: captaincy, three double hundreds and a slew of record. The most frightening part is there still four months to go in Smith’s year. Nicknamed Biff, from the Afrikaans word buffe, meaning buffalo. This certainly seems like the Year of the Buffalo. JANUARY: 2003 is just a day old and Graeme Smith scores 151 against the visiting Pakistanis. But still the young opener wasn’t exactly noticed as the man at the other end had scored 228. The Smith-Gibbs opening stand was worth 368 runs and the young opener was getting the first feel of being in the record books. FEBRUARY: After this high, came the low. Smith despite the runs was not considered for the World Cup. Worse he wasn’t even among the probables. But Jonty Rhodes’ World Cup at home ended with him being confined to his own home due to injury. Smith was the surprise replacement. In the three games the opener scored 23, 63, 35. Personally nothing disheartening but the collective trauma of the dressing room confusion in the final game against Sri Lanka was difficult to cope with. MARCH: Pollock was sacked after the World Cup disaster. But before the world got over the news came that Smith was named as the replacement. At 22 with no experience of playing a Test match abroad, reactions were caustic. Former coach Bob Woolmer called it ‘ridiculous’ while former player Clive Rice labelled it as ‘a big mistake.’ APRIL: The old boys club led by former skipper Pollock make life difficult for new skipper Smith on his first assignment. To make matters worse, Smith not giving the new ball to Pollock made the scene all the more difficult. But despite that Smith-led South Africa beat India in a game and of course Bangladesh twice. MAY: The rift in the SA camp is out there in the open. Reminiscent of his earlier Sports Illustrated interview, Smith once again speaks out without thinking much about the consequences. He labels SA’s folk hero Lance Kluesner as a ‘‘bad influence on the youngsters in the team’’. Zulu is left out and the Old Boys rally around him. Pollock, Woolmer, Kallis support Zulu but Smith is unperturbed. JULY: No big scores in the tri-series, Smith loses the final to England. But that seems to be the lull before the storm. The first Test sees Smith score 277 and 85. Record stand of 338 with Gibbs. In sixth months Smith is involved in yet another big opening stand. AUGUST: The dream run is continued in August. In the second Test at Lord’s Smith scores another double hundred. It is 259 this time. To add to that, in his second Test as skipper he got victory for South Africa at Lord’s The opinions are changing. Heard from Zulu: ‘‘I call truce with Smith, if the captain wants me I am ready all packed.’’ Nothing succeeds like success.
