Brisbane: South African great Jacques Kallis believes that Australian Test captain Steven Smith can achieve success despite his young age and replicate the example set by former Proteas skipper Graeme Smith.

“I can only speak from an outsider’s point of view that Steve looks like a guy who is well respected,” Kallis was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald.

“I don’t know him in that team environment well enough to comment too much on that but certainly from Graeme’s point of view he was very well respected within the team and almost from the day he walked in he had those leadership qualities. So we kind of knew he was going to get groomed for that and certainly as senior players we backed him 100 percent,” he added, while comparing the Smiths.

Graeme was handed the reins by South Africa at the age of 22, and went on to not only steer his national team to the top but also became Test cricket’s most successful captain with 53 wins before his retirement in March.

On Steven replicating the success that Graeme had with the South African team he said “I don’t think Steve will be too far behind that.”

Kallis, in Sydney to begin his first campaign with the Thunder in the Big Bash League, says the achievements of his countryman proved that Smith could enjoy his own rich tenure despite his young age.