Graeme Smith will retire from international cricket after final Test match against Pakistan

South African captain, Graeme Smith, has declared that the final Test match against Australia in Cape Town will be the last international match in his career. He first expressed his desire to retire from all forms of international cricket to his team-mates after the third day's play at Newlands.

The 33-year-old player, who is now playing his 117^th Test match, holds the record of longest-serving captain leading his team in 109 matches in Test format since 2003. He has so far scored 9257 runs at an average of 48.72 including 27 centuries and 38 half-centuries. The interesting thing in his career is that South Africa did not lose the match in which he hit a century.

Playing 197 ODIs, he has so far scored 6989 runs at an average of 37.98 with 10 hundreds and 47 fifties. His ODI career came under threat when he was dropped from the squad against Pakistan in the UAE last year.

It is sure that his decision of not extending his Test career has come as a shock to his team mates as well as his fans. However, he did not take this decision suddenly. He had been considering of ending his career since ankle surgery last year.