{"id":260200,"date":"2025-11-13T09:41:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T09:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/260200\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T09:41:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T09:41:08","slug":"morne-morkel-is-the-enemy-now-graeme-smiths-got-the-jokes-but-tells-south-africa-to-watch-out-for-jasprit-bumrah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/260200\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Morne Morkel is the enemy now’: Graeme Smith’s got the jokes, but tells South Africa to watch out for Jasprit Bumrah"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Graeme Smith<\/a>, the former South Africa captain, was in a jovial mood on Wednesday as he launched Season 4 of the SA20. Known for his easy-going nature, Smith fielded a few offbeat questions with trademark humour and charm. From being quizzed about the secret behind Faf du Plessis<\/a>\u2019 ageless looks to jokingly explaining why Morne Morkel<\/a> didn\u2019t make his list of South Africa\u2019s greatest fast bowlers earlier during the event, Smith handled every verbal bouncer with the same composure he once showed on the field.<\/p>\n

\"Graeme Graeme Smith wants South Africa to see off Jasprit Bumrah in Kolkata(PTI\/AFP) <\/p>\n

“Morne? Oh yeah, he is the enemy now. He is on the wrong side of the fence,” Smith said with a laugh. “As for Faf, ever since I’ve been playing with him, he’s taken his grooming very seriously. In my days, we used to play with baggy shirts, and Faf changed the whole image to make it a lot fitter. He has always been at the forefront of fashion and youth.”<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s upbeat energy was hardly surprising. Riding on the success of three stellar SA20 seasons, the commissioner is eagerly looking forward to another thrilling month of cricket starting December 26. Adding to his enthusiasm is the remarkable progress South African cricket has made over the past year and a half \u2014 winning the World Test Championship, reaching the T20 World Cup final last year, and making the Women\u2019s World Cup final earlier this year. The trajectory, as Smith sees it, is firmly upward.<\/p>\n

However, with the defending champions now in India to begin a new World Test Championship cycle against the two-time finalists, Smith\u2019s tone shifted from light-hearted to serious. The series may not feature many veterans from their last encounter, yet one duel is already generating buzz: Jasprit Bumrah<\/a> versus Kagiso Rabada<\/a>. South Africa haven’t won a Test series in India since 2000, nor even a Test match since 2010 \u2014 25 and 15 years, respectively. To end that drought, Smith believes Temba Bavuma and his men would do well to heed his warning about Bumrah.<\/p>\n

“Getting off to a solid start, having a top three that can lay a platform for you (is crucial). There\u2019s nothing worse than if you go two or three down and then the spinners come on and you\u2019re against the game already. So, countering Bumrah up front is going to be a big thing, and (Kagiso) Rabada as well for India. They\u2019re world-class bowlers with world-class Test records,” Smith addressed the media on the SA20 India day event.<\/p>\n

Smith was at the helm when South Africa last defeated India by an innings and six runs at Nagpur\u2019s VCA Stadium. Since then, the fortunes have flipped \u2014 they were floored 0\u20133 in 2015 and swept 0\u20133 in 2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018South Africa have the confidence\u2019, reminds Smith\u2026 and why wouldn’t they?<\/p>\n

This time, however, the narrative feels a little different. India haven\u2019t opted for rank turners, pitches that have long worked to their advantage at home. That decision gives South Africa a better shot at breaking the deadlock. Still, the inclusion of three spinners \u2014 Keshav Maharaj, Simon Harmer, and Senuran Muthuswamy \u2014 suggests they\u2019re prepared for a quick tactical shift should the conditions suddenly favour spin.<\/p>\n

“South Africa arrived here with a decent bowling attack, especially in the spin department. Maharaj and Harmer can definitely do the damage. They can control the game and they have the ability to turn the ball, which is a wicket-taking option with spin, and then it would be (interesting) to see how Rabada and the likes handle reverse swing,” added Smith.<\/p>\n

The tag of world champions will no doubt lift South Africa\u2019s confidence; as will the recent feat of their A team chasing down 417 against India A in the second unofficial Test. With Test cricket returning to Eden Gardens after a five-year hiatus \u2014 the venue last hosted South Africa in 2019 \u2014 Smith underlined the importance of starting well.<\/p>\n

“I’m hoping that with the first Test in Kolkata, it’s generally quite a good place to bat, get good value for runs. And it’s a stadium that especially if it’s full, will really make the South Africans motivated to do well in. I think it’s crucial on these types of tours that you start well. If you get behind the game in the subcontinent, it’s very difficult to fight your way back. And the batters in particular are going to really have to step up,” he mentioned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Graeme Smith, the former South Africa captain, was in a jovial mood on Wednesday as he launched Season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,56896,102939,102938,6770,103913,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-260200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-graeme-smith","tag-ind-vs-sa","tag-india-vs-south-africa","tag-jasprit-bumrah","tag-morne-morkel","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}