Joe Root scripts the reversal of fortunes for England

Hi Friends,

Greetings!

Let me begin with a disclaimer - I am a big fan of Test Cricket and the English summer is the most favorite period of the year for me since 2003. That was my beginning year of earning and that was the time when I had moved out of home/hostel environment for the first time. I was sharing house with couple of like minded friends, we had subscribed to Cable TV and had the privilege of watching sports channels in leisure. Since then July-Sep is my favorite period in an year to watch Test cricket happening in England.

2003 was the year when ICC World Cup happened in first quarter of the calendar year. Usually whenever the World Cup happens we can expect lot of changes aftermath in the participating teams especially the losing ones. South Africa who hosted the World Cup had crashed out in the first round itself. There was change in captaincy. A young 22 year old promising cricketer was given the mantle and he led his team for his first tour to England. The start of the series was far from auspicious one as his team lost the tri-series also involving England and Zimbabwe and then headed for a 5 test series against England. To add to the woes, when he went for the toss for the first test he was introduced to the match referee by his rival captain Nasser Hussain as "Greg Smith". What happened next was an interesting and unprecedented sequence spanning 9 years involving 3 England tours of South Africa. The person getting mention here is none other than South Africa's most successful and longest serving captain Graeme Smith. Following are the sequences -

1. Soon after that introduction incident at the toss of the first test, Nasser Hussain started facing huge criticism for his behavior. Graeme Smith chose his bat to answer by scoring 277 and 85 and put his team in dominating position before Micheal Vaughan's brilliance saved the day for the hosts. Hussain had to give up the captaincy after the test to Vaughan amidst the growing criticism in media on his unwelcome behavior towards his rival captain. That was just the beginning. Smith continued his form with another double hundred in the second test and led to the Proteas victory. The rest of the series was fought very hard from both the sides and series was leveled with the score line of 2-2. 
2. Smith led his team again to the tour of England in 2008. This time it was Micheal Vaughan's turn to lose captaincy. In the 4 test series, after the law of diminishing runs hit him in the first three tests and giving the unassailable lead to his rival just after the third test itself forced him to quit captaincy mid way in the series to Kevin Pietersen, in the similar way as his predecessor Nasser Hussain did five summers back. On the other side Graeme Smith again celebrated with bat scoring two centuries including the match winning one in the second innings of third test to secure the series for his team. 
3. South Africa toured next in 2012 with Graeme Smith still in saddle and it became a hat-trick of sorts with England lead by Andrew Strauss losing the 3 test series with the score line 0-2. The series witnessed ugly moments in England dressing room with Kevin Pietersen sending unsavory SMS about his own captain to rival players. Beleaguered Andrew Strauss gave up captaincy and announced retirement from cricket. Graeme Smith's love for English summer continued with another century in the first test followed by couple of useful half century performances in the second test. Media highlighted this rare feat of Graeme Smith and his team in ousting three rival captains in as many series in their own backyard.  

The fortune favors for the brave and Graeme Smith was indeed a brave captain for South Africans in test cricket. He took retirement from Cricket in 2014 after playing 117 tests in which he led his team 109 times.

With this great legacy on their shoulders South Africa toured again to England this year. But this time there was no Graeme Smith to lead them and their rivals had a brand new young leader in Joe Root at the helm. South Africa came into the series with the confusion about the continuity of AB De Villiers as their captain. They were devoid of the services of their pace ace Dale Steyn due to injury. To add to their woes, the designated captain Faf Du Plessis was not available for the first test in which Joe Root hammered a whirlwind century to get a lead for his team in the series. Though the Englishman lost the second test but they hit back and wrapped the series 3-1 with Joe Root among the runs throughout the series. From here it is not sure how the South Africans will start their rebuilding process but one thing is sure - their rival captain Joe Root has broken the jinx for his team of losing captains during/after every South African tour of England since the advent of this millennium. In other-words a new captain just before the South Africa reversed the fortunes for England. 

Thank you for reading,

Regards,
Chetan