Cape Town - On the field, they were the fiercest of rivals, but Graeme Smith was one of the first to congratulate Alastair Cook on his stellar career on Monday.
READ: Alastair Cook: England's modest champion
Cook, who has played a staggering 160 Test matches for England and is their all-time leading run scorer in the format, announced that next week's 5th Test against India at The Oval would be his last.
It brings the curtain down on a glittering career, and Smith took to Twitter to congratulate Cook, who captained England in 59 Test matches.
"Congrats to Alistair (sic) Cook on a fine career, certainly opening the batting for the length of time he did is an amazing effort!" Smith wrote.
"Wish him all the best in retirement and say thank you for the way he represented our beautiful game."
Congrats to Alistair Cook on a fine career, certainly opening the batting for the length of time he did is an amazing effort! Wish him all the best in retirement and say thank you for the way he represented our beautiful game.
— Graeme Smith (@GraemeSmith49) September 3, 2018