A Certain Age

English cricket followers of a certain age still talk about the time, at Lord's in 1963, when Colin Cowdrey came out to face the West Indies with a plaster cast on his arm. In years to come, South Africans (and a few others) of a certain age will talk in similar tones about Graeme Smith at Sydney, 2009.

I've been thinking a bit recently about the fact that I've never written very much about Smith. In some way he's an easy cricketer to take for granted, but, when you stop to think about some of the things he's done, it's obvious that he's an exceptional man of cricket and, all in all, a great batsman.

Captain of his country at 22; 75 Tests, 6000 runs and counting at more than fifty, with 18 centuries and his country's highest Test score; the priceless ability, seen at Edgbaston and Perth over the last six months, to play his very best when the stakes are highest.

Rising 28 now, he stands in unchallenged charge of a team which will surely soon be at the top of the world rankings, his only concern being the task of restoring his shattered fitness by the time Australia and South Africa resume hostilities at the Wanderers in seven weeks' time.

I think he'll be there.