Graeme Craig Smith (born 1 February 1981) is a South African cricket commentator and former cricketer, who played for South Africa in all formats. In...
Graeme Craig Smith (born 1 February 1981) is a South African cricket commentator and former cricketer, who played for South Africa in all formats. In 2003, he was appointed captain of the national team, taking over from Shaun Pollock. He held the position of test captain until his retirement in 2014. He is regarded as one of the greatest South African players of all time. At 22, he was appointed as South Africa's youngest ever captain.
A tall, left-handed opening batsman, Smith is regarded as one of the best test match openers of all time. During South Africa's tour of England in 2003, he made double centuries in consecutive Test matches: 277 at Edgbaston, and 259 at Lord's. His 259 at Lord's still holds the record for being the highest score made by a foreign player at this prestigious venue.
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Brendon McCullum
Brendon Barrie McCullum (born 27 September 1981) is a New Zealand cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer, who played all formats, and also a...
Brendon Barrie McCullum (born 27 September 1981) is a New Zealand cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer, who played all formats, and also a former captain in all forms. McCullum took quick scoring to Test matches as well, notably recording the fastest test century of all time. He is considered as one of the most successful batsmen and captains of New Zealand cricket. He retired from all forms of cricket in August 2019.McCullum is the former leading run scorer in Twenty20 International cricket and is the first and so far only one of the two players to have scored two Twenty20 International centuries and 2000 runs in T20 Internationals (apart from Martin Guptill). He became the first New Zealander to score a triple hundred in a Test, 302 runs against India on 18 February 2014. In 2014, he also became the first New Zealander to score 1000 test runs in a calendar year (1164). The record was bettered by Kane Williamson with 1172 runs in 2015. In his last Test outing on 20 February 2016, McCullum posted the fastest ever Test century, in 54 balls, beating the 56-ball record jointly held by his hero, Vivian Richards and Misbah-ul-Haq, scoring a total of 145 off 79 balls.McCullum was the first batsman to score 2 tons in t20I. He was the previous record holder for the highest individual score in a Twenty20 International (123 against Bangladesh in 2012) and third highest individual score in all Twenty20 cricket (158 not out for the Kolkata Knight Riders against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2008) which was later surpassed by Aaron Finch (173 against the Zimbabwe for Australian team and Chris Gayle (175 against the Pune Warriors India) for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2013 edition of IPL. He played for the Kolkata Knight Riders from 2008–2010 and again from 2012–2013, while in between he played for the Kochi Tuskers Kerala. He played the 2014 and 2015 seasons for the Chennai Super Kings. McCullum was a wicket-keeper until 2013.
On 22 December 2015, McCullum announced he would retire from international cricket at the end of the southern summer, joining his brother who had earlier that year announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. He is also the highest (170) runs scorer by the captain in his farewell test and first captain to score a century in his farewell test. He retired from all international cricket on 24 February 2016.
He played professionally with the Otago Volts at provincial level, the Lahore Qalandars in Pakistan Super League, the Brisbane Heat in Australia's Big Bash League and the Kolkata Knight Riders, Kochi Tuskers Kerala, Chennai Super Kings, Gujarat Lions and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL. McCullum was also involved in the Caribbean Premier League and the Bangladesh Premier League, as well as playing in the Pakistan Super League.
His brother Nathan McCullum was also a first-class and international cricketer, and their father Stuart McCullum was a long-serving first-class player for Otago. Both Brendon and Nathan attended King's High School in Dunedin.
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