Graeme Smith joins Surrey

Surrey have today announced the signing of South African test captain Graeme Smith on a 3 year contract.

Even though this has been rumoured for a few weeks now, it is a real coup for our club to attract someone of Smith’s stature in the game, with him also taking over from the departed Rory Hamilton-Brown as permanent skipper for the next 3 seasons. He has undoubted experience in the game, captaining his country since he was 22 years old, and at the age of 31, he still has plenty to offer. Scoring over 8000 test runs at an average of just under 50, he is one of the greatest cricketers to come out of South Africa.

For years now we have been in desperate need of a solid opening pair in the County Championship, and with the emergence of Rory Burns this year, it looks like we have finally sorted out this problem. Well, only when Smith is available that is. He will still play for and captain his country “for many years to come”, so we may not see him all the time at the Oval. He will participate in the Champions Trophy in June of next year, and in July-August will play 5 ODI’s in Sri Lanka, but other than that he will be available. He will arrive at Surrey in late march and will play the first part of the season, as he will not be taking part in IPL 2013.

Chris Adams has labelled Smith as “the best captain of his time” and I don’t think there will be many that will argue with him. Some supporters may be disappointed that, after his wonderful work towards the end of last season, Gareth Batty will not be the captain next season, but I think when Smith is away with South Africa then Batts will probably take over the reigns. You cannot underestimate the job that Batty did last season, in such difficult circumstances, but I’m not totally sure that he wanted the job full time.

Smith is the third, and undoubtedly the best, signing we have made in the close season, along with Gary Keedy and Vikram Solanki. All three of them have passed the 30, and some would argue that we are not really building for the future. However, experience is crucial in a team, and especially in a team that have had such an emotional 2012 season, so I see that having one of the most experienced teams on the county circuit as a positive, not a negative.

Finally, I would just like to congratulate Adams and co for this wonderful signing, and hopefully bringing back the good days to our club. We still have a long way to go to be a major force in all 3 competitions, but we are certainly making strides to becoming one of the best, and I personally cannot wait for next season to start.