OTD | Graeme Smith scored a blistering double-century in the Lord’s Test to register a massive win against England in 2003

Graeme Smith is regarded as one of South Africa’s greatest-ever captains. Having represented the Rainbow Nation in all formats of the game, Smith was also the finest opening batter who could take the game away from his opponents with his aggressive striking. It was during the 2003 tour of England the southpaw made a name for himself.

Smith made his debut in 2002 and interestingly, took over the captaincy of the team the following year, making him the youngest ever captain for his country. He succeeded Shaun Pollock after the 2003 World Cup and was tasked with rebuilding the side. 

However, he didn’t let the pressure of captaincy affect his batting and in fact, led the team from the front on several occasions. A good example of this is consecutive double centuries in the Test series against England in 2003. The opening match at Birmingham ended in a draw despite Smith’s first innings heroics of 277 off 373 balls. He repeated the action in the second match at Lord’s, but this time South Africa went past the finishing line. 

Smith stamps authority at England’s fortress 

Skipper Smith won the toss and decided to have a crack with his bowlers. A tense opening session made it difficult for the hosts to find easy runs, with Makhaya Ntini providing the first breakthrough in the seventh over. The right-arm express continued his onslaught and aided in dismissing England for 173 with a five-wicket haul. 

South Africa replied in style as Smith and Herschelle Gibbs stitched a 133-run partnership for the first wicket. The Proteas captain then built a 250+ partnership with Gary Kristen (108) for the second wicket and set the platform for a mammoth lead. Smith racked up 259 runs off 370 balls, an innings packed with 34 boundaries. This remains the highest score by a foreigner at Lord’s. 

His stunning knock helped South Africa reach 682/6 before declaring. Led by Andrew Flintoff (142), England fought back in the second innings but they were dismissed for 417 runs. The visitors hence won by an innings and 92 runs. Notably, Smith bagged the joint Man of the Series award for scoring an aggregate of 714 runs at an average of 79.33.