Graeme Smith will meet his Surrey team-mates in Cape Town this week as he prepares for a new life in cricket after announcing his retirement from the international game.
Smith will stop playing for South Africa after the current Test against Australia at Newlands, the last of the three-match series.
He will then return to his role as captain of Surrey, which was cut short by a knee injury last summer after only three games of the County Championship. Smith will meet a group of players with plenty to prove after they were relegated from Division One in 2013. The Surrey squad are on a 10-day pre-season tour in South Africa.
Intriguingly, Smith could be captaining Kevin Pietersen, his one-time nemesis, as early as May. Pietersen has agreed to play for Surrey in the domestic Twenty20 competition and could be back in time for the match against Middle-sex at The Kia Oval on May 30.
On hearing of Smith’s retirement, Pietersen tweeted: “Graeme Smith is retiring! For what he has done for SA cricket — the man is a legend!”
