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Graeme Smith will equal the South African captaincy record held by the late Hansie Cronje when he leads his team in the first Test against Bangladesh starting on Friday (today).

It will be Smith’s 53rd Test at the helm and the opening batsman said it would be a great accomplishment if he went on to surpass Cronje.

“I have never dreamt of becoming South Africa’s leading Test captain,” Smith told a news conference on Thursday.

“It would be a great honour and wonderful achievement. I would be proud.”

Smith was 22 when he took over from Shaun Pollock and became South Africa’s youngest captain, leading his team against Bangladesh in Chittagong in March 2003.

“It was an intriguing opportunity to get the captaincy at such a young age,” he said. “Initially it was just about proving I was good enough.

“This was about my performance. It was about showing everyone I was strong enough to handle the job.”

Smith has won 24 Tests as captain, three short of Cronje’s total.

The left-handed opener also led the ICC’s World XI in a one-off Test against Australia in Sydney in October 2005.

Smith has played in 61 Tests, scoring 4,843 runs at an average of 47.02. Today’s game is the first in a two-match series.

Source:Cricket News