Smith speaks on 'Penisgate'

Cape Town - Graeme Smith and his wife, Morgan Deane, have spoken for the first time since the controversial ‘Penisgate’ story broke on Wednesday with both downplaying the incident in which Deane sent her husband an open message saying “I have the perfect book for you” along with a photograph of a book entitled: “How to live with a huge penis.”

“Morgan was in a book shop looking for a baby book she had been recommended,” Smith explained. “ She was in the medical/health section of the shop when she saw that book and was obviously taken by surprise. On the spur of the moment she tweeted it to me. It was obviously just meant to be innocent humour,” Smith said.

Deane, who was born and resident in Ireland all her life until marrying the national cricket captain a year ago and moving to Cape Town, could not understand why the incident had caused such a stir: “I come from a country in which sense of humour and the ability to laugh at ourselves and each other is actually an intrinsic part of the culture,” Deane said.

“I’ve been shocked to read and hear some of the things people have said about me and Graeme. People would simply have laughed and moved on in Ireland. I cannot believe the fuss -- it seems completely out of proportion to me.”

Smith admitted that both of them had been reminded, once again, about the “potential pitfalls” of using social media. “We both enjoy using Twitter and 99.9% of the time we have genuine, friendly and positive interaction with our followers. I guess we just need to be more mindful of the other 0.1%,” Smith said.