Can't drink out of the mace, but you can drown in what it means

Graeme Smith, the former South African captain, once said that the problem with the mace is you can't drink out of it. This statement highlights the significance of the mace, which is a symbol of the team's achievement and pride.

Smith, who is now the commissioner of the SA20 league, has been a key figure in South African cricket for many years. He has played a crucial role in the development of the team and has been instrumental in their success.

In this article, Smith reflects on the current state of South African cricket and the challenges that the team faces. He notes that the team has not had enough time to get to the same level as their predecessors, but he believes that they have the potential to achieve great things.

Smith also talks about the importance of tradition and the need to respect the game. He notes that the team has to deal with a lot of attention and pressure, and that they have to be able to handle it.

The article also mentions the team's coach, Shukri Conrad, who has been building the team since his appointment in January 2023. Smith believes that Conrad has the right approach and that the team is in good hands.

Overall, the article highlights the challenges that South African cricket faces, but also the potential for success. It emphasizes the importance of tradition and the need to respect the game, and it provides insight into the team's current state and future prospects.

Here is the processed text in Markdown formatting:

# Can't drink out of the mace, but you can drown in what it means

Graeme Smith, the former South African captain, once said that the problem with the mace is you can't drink out of it. This statement highlights the significance of the mace, which is a symbol of the team's achievement and pride.

Smith, who is now the commissioner of the SA20 league, has been a key figure in South African cricket for many years. He has played a crucial role in the development of the team and has been instrumental in their success.

In this article, Smith reflects on the current state of South African cricket and the challenges that the team faces. He notes that the team has not had enough time to get to the same level as their predecessors, but he believes that they have the potential to achieve great things.

Smith also talks about the importance of tradition and the need to respect the game. He notes that the team has to deal with a lot of attention and pressure, and that they have to be able to handle it.

The article also mentions the team's coach, Shukri Conrad, who has been building the team since his appointment in January 2023. Smith believes that Conrad has the right approach and that the team is in good hands.

Overall, the article highlights the challenges that South African cricket faces, but also the potential for success. It emphasizes the importance of tradition and the need to respect the game, and it provides insight into the team's current state and future prospects.

![no-one-in-the-current-sa-squad-has-played-more-tests-than-rabadas-70](https://static.cricbuzz.com/a/img/v1/1080x608/i1/c715408/no-one-in-the-current-sa-squad-has-played-more-tests-than-rabadas-70.jpg)

No-one in the current SA squad has played more Tests than Rabada's 70

The 11 people who will try to go, against Australia at Lord's from Wednesday, where Smith's XI went almost 13 years ago are not of the same stature. Not only do they not have a Smith, they also don't have a Hashim Amla, a Jacques Kallis, an AB de Villiers or a Dale Steyn. Few teams, from any country and any era, do. This version of South Africa's team have Kagiso Rabada and Keshav Maharaj and nine relative AN Others. But Smith likes what he has seen.

"I was at training the other day \[Sunday\] and there was a really quiet, calm focus," he said. "Everyone outside that team understands that they're the underdogs."

It's a deliciously intriguing phrase: everyone outside that team. Makes you wonder what they're thinking inside that dressing room.

Amla, too, doesn't subscribe to the theory that the class of 2025 aren't up to what their 2012 counterparts achieved: "I wouldn't say they're not quite as good. They're just at a different stage in their career."

Indeed, Smith and Amla spoke at their investiture into the ICC Hall of Fame in London on Monday. South Africa took 582 caps into the 2012 Lord's Test. Smith had 101 of them and Kallis 154. No-one in the current squad has played more Tests than Rabada's 70, and of the rest only Temba Bavuma and Maharaj have passed 50. The squad's 367 collective caps amount to less than half Australia's 772.

"This South African team has not had enough time to get to those numbers," Amla said. "But what they've achieved has been amazing. No-one would have given them a chance of getting into the final maybe a year or two ago. But they won the matches they needed to get here."

Here. That's another interesting word under the circumstances. "You come to Lord's, and there are things you're going to have to deal with," Smith said. "Nevermind the Australian team, it's about traditions, it's people flying over to come and watch. There's a lot of attention on the game, there's what it's like to go into that dressing room. And all the stuff that comes with ticketing. You won't believe how ticketing can become a disaster in your life, as a player, for a big game like this."

That's a small part of a picture that grows exponentially bigger: "There are moments in people's careers, and stages in South African cricket, where we've broken boundaries. I think this team has the opportunity to do that again over the next coming days.

"We've all worked tirelessly over the last couple of years to try and build South African cricket back up; to try and bring the fans back, to see the players doing well.

"You give a lot and you share a lot with a lot of amazing people along the way. South African cricket had to transition dramatically. When we came back in 1991 - even when I got in - it was still raw.

"There was so much about the game that was so far behind the rest of the world in terms of professionalism. You fight and you build and you go."

It's difficult not to recognise that fight in the team Shukri Conrad has been building since his appointment as coach in January 2023. Seconds out. Round No. 1. Could someone ring the bell already, please. And don't forget to bring the mace; all five kilogrammes and 76 centimetres of it.