Smith's Crew in SA

[LP]

Yep..Paine's gesture to shake hand pre game was excellent

In is first few minutes he's shown himself to be 300% smarter than Smith, Smith is a great batsmen but a crap captain.

Paine's motives won't be as magnanimous as they seem superficially, it one simple act he's taken the initiative off the Saffies, forced them to tow the line and removed their oxygen.

It doesn't mean he won't be in their ear from behind the stumps, it just means it won't be low brow! You can do as much damage to an opponent by pumping up their tyres and commenting quietly about their technique as you can by trying to aggressively distract or deflate them, same outcome but the method is 180 degrees away from Warner. So much smarter!

Towards the end of my cricket career I found that I could get the batsmen to hit the ball in preferred zones just by making sure they clearly overheard my instructions to the field. There was nothing they can do about it, you could analyse their batting technique and have them playing their weakest shots in just a few overs by the power of indirect suggestions and field manipulation. At test level Taylor was the best I have seen at manipulating the field to get the batsmen playing the way he wanted.

Smith as Captain by comparison was a sledge hammer, banging away at the same spot relentlessly often with little effect.