McGrath believes Australia need to keep Smith under constant pressure

Legendary Australia pace bowler Glenn McGrath believes that the national team should constantly target South African captain Graeme Smith over the last two Test matches if they are to have any chance of becoming the number one Test team once again.

Smith has currently captained South Africa in 95 Test matches, the most by any skipper in history, and under his leadership, the Proteas have not been defeated in their last nine Test series.

McGrath believes that if Smith were to be dismissed early into his innings, it would be a demoralising sight for the other South African batsmen.

“If you get on top of Graeme Smith, he is the key to victory. Personally, I was never shy with making a prediction or targeting a certain player, traditionally, you go after the captain and it stems back to the West Indies sides of the 1980s, they would always look to target the leader, get on top of him and it would have a big effect. It is hard to target just one guy in this South African team because they have so many great players, guys like (Jacques) Kallis and (Hashim) Amla, but Smith is their captain and their opening batsman,” McGrath said.