South Africa Cricket Skipper Graeme Smith Sent Home "Injured"

South African Cricket skipper Graeme Smith has been withdrawn from the rest of the Proteas' tour of England due to injury.

The left-handed opening batsman has been plagued by "tennis elbow" for a while now, according to team management, and he's been sent home on doctors advice.

Funnily enough, this decision comes on the same day that newspapers back in his native South Africa were calling for Smith to be replaced for the rest of the series.

The Proteas have been out of sorts in the ODI's after winning the test series earlier this month. They find themselves 2-0 down in the five-match series after being humiliated by England at Trent Bridge where they lost by 10 wickets.

The Herald newspaper in South Africa claimed that Smith's personal issues with England's South African-born skipper Kevin Pietersen were having an ill effect on the team.

The paper also called for Jaques Kallis to be dropped as the veteran was underperforming.

That will not be happening, however, as Kallis will in fact replace the "injured" Smith as captain for the final three one-day-ers.

So what's the truth?

He may well be injured, but it's a timely exit for Smith as he won't be the one left to raise South Africa's ailing spirits ahead of tomorrow's third ODI.

Isn't this when a team needs its Captain most? 2-0 down?

Has he been told to go sort himself out perhaps ahead of the Proteas' matches with Australia? I mean, it's strange for a non-gossip newspaper to call for a national team captain's head in its editorial column without good reason.

Or are South Africa going to use these three final matches to experiment?

Either way, the big South African captain can expect a frosty welcome back home.

South Africa's fans are pretty impatient when it comes to their national sides and are less than happy with Smith.

He may well just be lucky that the country's rugby side are suffering even more, with Springbok coach Pete De Villiers deflecting attention away from the Trent Bridge debacle.