Graeme Smith’s career as captain of the South African limited overs team will be book-ended by World Cups.
He was given the national captaincy after the drama of Durban, announced as leader before the 2003 tournament had even run its course.
Now he hopes to end his tenure as captain of the ODI team with a victory in India.
Smith is rather relaxed about this World Cup. He is, to muddle the English language, intensely relaxed, fully aware of the responsibility and expectations he carries, but dealing with that burden in a calm manner that spreads. The entire South African team is relaxed about the World Cup.
At the unveiling of the new kit sponsor this week, there were smiles and clinking glasses as they celebrated their captain’s 30th birthday. One wag joked it was less a launch than another party for the man who has led South Africa for eight years.
The other 14 in the squad take their lead from Smith. And he is relaxed. Intensely so.
Well, he’s not entirely at ease this weekend. On Sunday at 6pm Smith will be a bag of nerves as he watches his beloved Liverpool take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. For this weekend, at least, the World Cup can take a break as he and some friends take in what will be the biggest sporting event of the weekend.
“It’s going to be massive this weekend,” said Smith yesterday. “A bunch of mates and I – some Liverpool and Chelsea boys – are going to get together for the game. It’s going to have everything. (Fernando) Torres might play for Chelsea, (Luis) Suarez probably will; fans will be going mad.”
South African cricket fans are themselves starting to get hyped up for the World Cup.
It is a tournament that has become a national obsession since 1992, when Kepler Wessels led a team fresh from the darkness of isolation into the spotlight. There is still a sense amongst South Africans they were robbed in Australia, when the rain came down and the scoreboard announced: “South Africa to win: need 22 runs off 1 ball.”
Thus began the Rainbow Nation’s love-hate affair with the World Cup, a desperation to win, to put right that perceived wrong. You feel that World Cup will be watched more carefully by South Africans than any other.
“I was walking through town (yesterday) and I could feel it,” said Smith. “The buzz has started and you can feel it when you speak to people. You see it with the people wearing shirts and you can feel the expectation from people and the media.
“That said, we all know there is more to cricket than the World Cup because we have different forms of the game, so it’s different from rugby and football. If you had to ask some of the guys on the team, and I know (Jacques) Kallis would agree, that winning Test series in Australia and England would the highlights of a career. It’s a huge achievement.
“Cricket is more than just the World Cup, but we know how important the World Cup is to South Africans. We want to win it for them and for us.
“That buzz that goes through South Africans when you win is incredible.”
In 2007 South Africa went to the World Cup in the West Indies as one of the favourites, and then found an Australian side hitting their straps in the semi-finals.
That loss to Australia saw calls for the heads of Smith and Mickey Arthur, but Cricket South Africa kept faith in the pair and they led South Africa through a glorious 18-month period that saw them beat England and Australia away from home and draw with India in India.
“In 2007 we probably put huge pressure on ourselves as much as anyone else because we went into the tournament as one of the big favourites,” said Smith.
“For this tournament we are much more relaxed in the way we want to do things. We are taking it step by step, without trying to sound too clichéd, but each match is a new challenge.
“We’ll re-asses where we are after every game and every week, breaking the World Cup into smaller challenges.
“This is an incredibly open World Cup looking at the form of the teams coming in to it.
“Australia have just beaten England; England might be tired after a long tour to Australia.
“We just beat India in a tough one-day series. You can never write off Pakistan or Sri Lanka, and I think Bangladesh might spring a surprise or two.”
On the wall of his Newlands house, Smith has a framed Liverpool jersey signed by Steven Gerrard after they won the European Champions League in 2005.
It was a magnificent come-from-behind win by Liverpool, scoring three goals in a frantic second half and then showing the calmness to win the penalty shoot-out.
On Sunday Smith will be cheering on Liverpool, but the lessons from that night in Istanbul in 2005, when his team refused to give up; when they broke up a big and seemingly insurmountable challenge into smaller ones; when they never gave up – those characteristics will stay with Smith and South Africa as they head to India to take on the world.