Retirement of Graeme Smith Ushered A Difficult Period for South Africa: AB de Villiers
In the last seven years, the South African team has seen the retirements of Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini, Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher and Graeme Smith. AB de Villiers has called this phase the most difficult period for the Proteas.
- NDTVSports
- Updated: September 20, 2015 08:48 PM IST
South Africa has seen several high-profile retirements in the last seven years. First in the long list is Shaun Pollock, their premier fast bowler, who retired in 2008 while Makhaya Ntini, their ace strike bowler, retired in 2011. The retirement of star wicketkeeper Mark Boucher was a huge blow to the team while the exit of Jacques Kallis, South Africa's collosus, left a massive void. (AB de Villiers Spends Quality Time in Mauritius)
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AB de Villiers believes that the retirement of all these star players hurt South Africa in one way or the other. However, he said that the retirement of South Africa skipper Graeme Smith was the toughest of the lot and it was a very difficult phase for South Africa. (AB de Villiers, Fastest to 8000 Runs, Boosted by Rugby Power)
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Speaking to the International Cricket Council website, de Villiers said, "It was a very difficult phase when Jacques, Graeme and Mark and to an extent even Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini and some of the big names retired. Smith's retirement was extremely tough because he started a certain culture that we are very proud of now and that we play for. When he retired there was a big change in the team, a lot of senior guys took over the side and we had to start something different again."
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Smith made a world record for captaining the most number of Tests over a period of time. During the course of a decade, Smith captained the Proteas in 109 Tests and bid adieu to the game during the third Test against Australia in Cape Town in March, 2013.
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"For a while we were hanging on to what Graeme used to do, but after a few months we realised we had to let go of certain things. There's a nice, fresh vibe and we're confident about where we'd heading as a cricket side. That culture is still in place that Graeme created, but we're confident about the way we're doing things at the moment," he said.
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South Africa embark on a tough 72-day tour to India in October and the World's No.1 ranked Test team will be aiming to continue their dominance overseas. They have not lost a Test series for nine years while in their previous visit to India in 2010, they had drawn the two-Test series 1-1 and lost the ODI series 1-2.