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Test Cricket's 25 Greatest Smiths

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25 - Denis Smith (England, 1935)





Wisden obituary

Denis Smith died suddenly at Derby on September 12, aged 72. Born at Somercotes on January 24, 1907, he played for Derbyshire from 1927 until 1951. He was then appointed county coach in succession to Harry Elliott, making a solitary appearance in 1952 in an emergency and finally ending his 44-year connection with the club in 1971, though he was quietly scouting until last year. By 1930 he had developed into a reliable left-handed batsman, scoring 83 and 105 in Payton's benefit match at Trent Bridge. In the next match, his 107 at The Oval was largely responsible for Derbyshire's first victory against Surrey for 26 years. At this time he was opening the innings, and although he dropped down the order at times over the years, he is best remembered as an opener. His ability in this direction was to bring something rare to Derbyshire- success. In four consecutive seasons, Derbyshire were twice third, runners-up in 1935 (which from a playing point of view was a better year than 1936) and champions in 1936.

Tall and elegant in style, he approached the artistry of Frank Woolley, though not possessing the fluency of the Kent player. Usually attractive to watch, Smith's forcing shots were well executed, being severe on anything over-pitched, especially on middle or leg stump, and his runs came at a good rate. Throughout most of the 1930s his usual opening partners were Storer or Alderman - the latter an almost perfect foil to Smith's aggression - and they could be relied on to give the side a sound start. Consistent batting in the early weeks of 1935 gained him Test recognition in two matches against South Africa, when he shared in stands of 52 and 128 at Headingley with scores of 36 and 57, followed by 35 and a failure at Old Trafford. He scored over 2,000 runs that year, becoming one of Wisden's Five, and exceeded 1,000 runs on twelve occasions - a county record, as was his aggregate of 20,516 runs and his 30 centuries. He played for the Players at Lord's in 1935 and in the second innings scored 78 out of 112 for The Rest against the Champion County when no other player reached double figures. This was the last such match to be played, so he was denied the honour of appearing for both sides in successive years when Derbyshire won the championship in 1936. He toured Australia and New Zealand in the winter of 1935-36 with the MCC under the captaincy of Errol Holmes. No Tests were played but in the representative matches against New Zealand his average was over 43, and he shared in stands of 239 with J. H. Parks against Otago and 204 with W. Barber against Queensland.

Following his 189 against Yorkshire at Chesterfield in the opening match of 1935, an innings he considered marked the turning point of his career, came his highest score of 225 versus Hampshire on the same ground, when he sustained a broken rib which caused his absence from the first Test that Year. In 1937 he made 202 not out at Trent Bridge. During the war, he played in the Bradford League and took up wicketkeeping, acting in this capacity for Derbyshire for part of 1946 and 1947 until the arrival of George Dawkes. His usual place in the field was first slip, and it was not unknown for him to bowl an over or two of right-arm medium pace. As county coach he was hard to please, and no doubt he chastened some with his blunt approach. But when words of praise did fall from his lips, the pupil knew they were truly earned.

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack

Denis Smith | England Cricket | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo
 

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24 - Don Smith (England, 1957)



Don Smith was a useful allrounder for Sussex in the post-war period, a left-hand opening batsman and left-arm medium-pacer (he started at a spinner but found that he had the ability to swing the ball). His county career started hesitantly, but once he had secured his place in the side he remained an ever present. In 1949 as an opener he scored his maiden hundred - a double against Nottinghamshire - and made 1500 runs, but when David Sheppard came down from Cambridge he found himself dropped down the order, although he was restored from the mid 1950s. Nevertheless, he ended the year with 2088 runs. He took nine wickets in his first nine years at Hove, but in 1955 Robin Marlar suggested he switch to left-arm medium over the wicket and he ended the summer with 73 wickets. His Indian summer came in 1957 when he was 34, and a series of high scores resulted in him being drafted into the England side for the Lord's Test against West Indies. He played three Tests that season, but managed only 25 runs in four innings and took one wicket. Against Gloucestershire, Sussex were set a target of 277 in 195 minutes, and Smith smashed 166 (nine sixes, 11 fours), and he followed with 147 against the West Indians. He retired in 1962, and subsequently was appointed coach and groundsman at Lancing School, a position he held for more than 20 years before becoming Sri Lanka's coach in their early years as a Test-playing country. He subsequently emigrated to Australia.

Martin Williamson

Don Smith | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo
 

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23 - Ian Smith (South Africa)


Wisden obituary

Ian Smith was a legbreak bowler whose usefulness was limited as he did not possess a googly, but on a turning track his accuracy and prodigious spin made him a difficult opponent. He toured England in 1947, taking 7 for 189 on debut at Nottingham in the only match South Africa really competed in. He headed the tour averages with 58 wickets at 23.17, his best of 13 for 66 coming at Derby (including a spell of 6 for 1 which included a hat-trick). He toured again in 1955 but was second fiddle to Hugh Tayfield.

Martin Williamson

Ian Smith | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo
 
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22 - Peter Smith (England, 1946-47)





Wisden obituary
Thomas Peter Bromley Smith, who died in France as a result of a brain haemorrhage following a fall while on holiday on August 4, aged 58, played with distinction as a professional all-rounder for Essex from 1929 to 1951. In that time he made 10,170 runs, average 17.98, and took 1,697 wickets--more than any other Essex bowler--for 26.63 runs each. A capital leg-break and googly exponent, he never lost his length even when at times receiving heavy punishment, as when H. T. Bartlett hit him for 28 in an over in the Gentlemen v. Players match at Lord's in 1938.

In 1933, Peter Smith arrived at The Oval prepared to play for England against the West Indies, only to learn that the telegram informing him of his choice had been sent by a hoaxer. Thirteen years later he did play for his country, against India on the Surrey ground, and he also took part in two Tests with Australia and one with New Zealand when a member of W. R. Hammond's M.C.C. team in 1946-47. Though meeting with little success generally on that tour, he did achieve one notable feat, for his nine wickets for 121 against New South Wales at Sydney is still the best innings-analysis by any M.C.C. bowler in Australia. On three other occasions he dismissed nine batsmen in an innings--for 97 runs against Middlesex at Colchester in 1947, in which game he returned match-figures of 16 for 215, for 117 v. Nottinghamshire at Southend and 108 v. Kent at Maidstone, both in 1948.

The summer of 1947 was a memorable one for Smith. In scoring 1,063 runs, average 23.66, and taking 172 wickets at 27.13 apiece, he completed the double for the only time in his career. Furthermore, he hit 163--the best of his eight centuries--against Derbyshire at Chesterfield, the highest first-class innings in history by a batsman going in at No. 11, he and F. H. Vigar (114 not out) putting on 218 for the last wicket, which remains a record for Essex. Smith's total of wickets that year is also the largest by an Essex bowler in one season.
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack

Peter Smith | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo
 
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21 - Steve Smith (Australia, 1984)

Steve Smith

Somewhere in here

Steve Smith was a 23-year-old on the brink of the Australian side when he threw in his lot with the rebel tour of South Africa. A right-hand opener and a good fielder, Smith made his debut for NSW in 1981-82 scoring 245 runs at 40.83; the following summer was even better, and his maiden first-class hundred was a career-best 263 against Victoria. His one-day international debut was equally impressive, scoring a hundred in his third match against New Zealand at Melbourne. He continued to be a part of the ODI squad, toured Sri Lanka and finally made his Test debut in the Caribbean in 1983-84 but struggled against the West Indies pace barrage, making 41 runs in three Tests. He struggled in 1984-85, possibly weighed down by his decision to tour South Africa, but once there he showed his class with an outstanding hundred in the third "Test" at Johannesburg. He ended the tour with 1163 runs at 52.86 and was named one of South Africa's Cricketers of the Year. After two more seasons with NSW he moved to the Cape and played out his career with Transvaal.

Martin Williamson

Steve Smith | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo
 
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20 - Tiger Smith (England, 1912-13)



Wisden obituary

THE death of 'Tiger" Smith ends an association with Warwickshire that began up a tree 83 years ago. Born on February 6, 1886, Ernest James Smith was just 10 years old when he watched Kent v Warwickshire from a tree outside his beloved Edgbaston ground. From that day he was hooked on Warwickshire cricket. It was a relationship which mellowed over the years and right up to the recent Test match at Edgbaston he was a familiar, well-loved figure at the ground.

During that Test it was heart-warming to see men like Bob Willis, Geoff Boycott and Mike Brearley ask him for advice that was readily given and sensibly atriculated with his trusty stick tapping the ground for extra emphasis. It was difficult to imagine, while listening to him analysing Gower"s technique or Taylor"s skills behind the stumps, that this man had played many times with W. G. Grace, had kept wicket behind men like Victor Trumper, Clem Hill, Gilbert Jessop and C. B. Fry, had batted against the likes of Wilfred Rhodes, Colin Blythe and J. J. Kotze.

He had a colossal memory for incidents in bygone matches yet he could be gracious in his praise of the great modern players. 'This here Viv Richards is a great player," he told me during the Somerset match this season. 'I came here today to criticise him but when his first five scoring shots go for boundaries, what can you say?"

He was proud to uphold the traditional values of the game ('It"s a sideways-on game," he"d say while wincing at the defects of the current England batsmen, 'doesn"t anybody tell them that these days?").

On the second day of the Warwickshire v Lancashire match at Edgbaston, (August 13) E. J. ('Tiger") Smith set up a new record of longevity for a professional cricketer. Smith made his first-class debut for Warwickshire, against the South Africans at Edgbaston, on June 16, 1904 and was thus alive 75 years 59 days after his debut, exceeding the record for a professional held by Wilfred Rhodes. He had extended the period to 75 years 77 days at the time of his death.

A very small number of amateurs exceed Smith. F. A. Mackinnon died in 1947, 76 years 284 days after his first-class debut for Cambridge University, while others to reach 76 years were H. M. Lawrence (Kent), died 1975, and J. Gilman (MCC), died 1976.

However, the English record appears to be held by H. Jenner, who died in 1904, 77 years 57 days after his appearance for Cambridge in the 1827 University match. Even Jenner has to give best to the Australian-born John Wheatley, however. Wheatley made his first-class debut for Canterbury against Otago in February 1883, and died aged 102 in 1962, 79 years 78 days afterwards.

But nobody could ever accuse 'Tiger" of living in the past. In his last few days he struggled painfully but cheerfully ('I"ve told 'em I want hops on my coffin not lilies," he"d joke)- but he"d still constructively analyse the batting of Gooch ('You come back and tell me I"m a bloody fool if you like- but you take a look at his front foot")- or the wicketkeeping of Bob Taylor ('They"d be mad not to take him to Australia- he"s got the best pair of hands in the game").

And no man alive was better qualified to comment on the art of wicketkeeping: on the 1911-12 tour of Australia he stood up to Barnes and Foster in four Tests on those lightning fast wickets. By common consent he kept immaculately, with the highlight a superb leg-side stumping of Clem Hill off Frank Foster at Adelaide ('Bob Crockett, the umpire at square leg, said Good God, Clem, you"re out and I said Aye, and by a long way! I did it again in the second innings but the other umpire was asleep!").

He could bat too- nearly 17,000 runs and 20 centuries in a career lasting from 1904 to 1930- and in his last season he was still fit enough to score a hundred before lunch against Essex-'and I even had time to drink a glass of Guinness before the players came off for lunch!"

At the time of his death he was the oldest living Test cricketer - but his real love was Warwickshire. As the county"s coach in the immediate post-war years his disciplinarian yet kindly methods yielded an outstanding crop of players - and even in his last days, he talked with warm affection of his 'boys"- players like David Brown, Dennis Amiss, John Jameson, Jack Bannister, Tom Cartwright and Neal Abberley. And the respectful attention the players continually showed him spoke volumes.

It"s not an overstatement to say that 'Tiger" Smith was a legend in the game. It"s difficult to think of any Englishman with a more distinguished career in three major facets of the game - 11 Tests as a player, nine seasons as a first-class umpire (including eight Tests) and coach to the champion county in 1951.

He was present at some of cricket"s great moments - at Leyton in 1932 he signalled the boundary that posted the new world record first-wicket stand by Holmes and Sutcliffe. He kept to Syd Barnes as he mesmerised 49 South African victims in just four Tests in 1913-14. He watched every ball of the epic opening partnership of 323 by Hobbs and Rhodes at Melbourne in 1911-12.

'Tiger" stood in the Lord"s Test of 1938 when Wally Hammond scored his majestic 240 against Bradman"s Australians and he played in that amazing match against Hampshire when, in 1922, they were bowled out for 15 but still managed to beat Warwickshire by 155 runs.

He will be fondly remembered for many things by countless people associated with cricket - and anybody privileged to have spent happy hours with him in the company of his family and his beloved wife Rose will confirm that the bark of this endearingly gruff character was considerably worse than his soft-hearted bite.

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack

Tiger Smith | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo
 
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19 - Pom Pom Fellows-Smith (South Africa, 1960)



"Pom Pom" Fellows-Smith toured England in 1960, all his four Test appearances coming on that one trip. A powerful and uncompromising right-hand batsman whose trademark shots were a hammered off and a variety of leg-side swipes, he was not stranger to English conditions as he had won three cricket Blues at Oxford (as well as one for rugby) and also played for Northamptonshire from 1957, making 109 and 65 not out on debut. He had a disappointing tour in 1960 although he finished with 863 runs at 31.96 and 32 wickets with his legspin. He only played two more first-class matches - both for Free Foresters against his old university - after that tour. In all, of his 94 first-class appearances, only 14 were made in South Africa.

Martin Williamson

Pom Pom Fellows-Smith | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo
 
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18 - David Smith (England, 1961-62)





Wisden Cricketer obituary
Opposing counties were apt to make the mistake in the late 1950s and through the 1960s of thinking Gloucestershire were a soft touch when it came to their new ball attack. David Robert Smith, like his partner Tony Brown, wasted the minimum of energy on his run-up. What he did possess was a handsome action, an ability to hit the seam with constant accuracy and a natural away swing from the right-hander. And he was faster than he looked. There was more than a touch of technical malevolence in that deceptively leisurely approach: after all, it brought him 1,250 wickets from 1956-70 and five Tests against India in 1961-62. He topped 100 wickets in a season five times. Apart from his Test appearances, when conditions in India did him no great favours, he had gone on the 1960-61 MCC tour to New Zealand. He was a good tourist, quiet and conscientious. Many of his 292 catches were expertly taken without fuss at slip and on occasions he cherished the scope to belt the ball from low in the order. Although diffident by nature, he was always a popular member of the county side. Injuries at times worked against him, not just at cricket. As a talented left-winger, he played for Bristol Boys at football, later joining Bristol City and, in 1959, Millwall. But cricket remained his unwavering favourite. He made a complete break, however, on his retirement from the game, hardly ever again revisiting the county ground to the surprise and disappointment of many of his former team-mates. Instead he would spend six days a week helping his wife, Peggy, in their fancy goods shop at Fishponds, a district of Bristol near where he was born. "I don't bother too often to see sport on the TV either," he used to say. "Never was much good at sitting and watching." David, a devoted family man, died suddenly at home on December 17, aged 69.

David Foot


http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/20236.html
 
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17 - Ed Smith (England, 2004)



The 15th Smith to be selected for England, but the first to have written a book on baseball, Ed Smith demanded selection for the third Test against South Africa in 2003 thanks to his superb county form. A tall right-hander with a penchant for the drive, Smith picked up six centuries in as many matches for Kent, including a career-best 203 at Blackpool, to become the first batsman to pass 1000 runs for the season. It was a run of form that coincided with a severe downturn in England's fortunes following the resignation of Nasser Hussain, and if his surname was anything to go by, he was just the name to take on South Africa's prolific captain, Graeme Smith. Sure enough, Ed responded with a half-century in his maiden Test innings but managed just 23 runs in his next four outings and was dropped. In 2004 there were rumours that he had become alienated from the Kent dressing-room, and it was no surprise when he moved to Middlesex at the end of the summer. After two consistent seasons he made the natural progression to leadership as he was named captain for the 2007 season. A voracious reader and writer, he picked up a double-first in history despite devoting much of his time at Cambridge University to cricket, and opened for England Under-19s in three Tests against New Zealand in 1996. He broke his ankle in 2008, preventing him from captaining Middlesex for most of the season, and subsequently announced his retirement from first-class cricket in the winter.

Andrew Miller November 2008

Ed Smith | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo
 

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16 - Cammie Smith (West Indies, 1960-62)



Cammie Smith was a fearless, attacking batsman who excelled against quick bowling but struggled to cope with spin. He was frustrating to follow, one day outstanding, the next poor. His only Test fifty came against Australia in 1960-61 as he was found out by the spinners. After retiring he managed various West Indies sides, became an ICC match referee, and remained closely associated with the development of the game in Barbados.

Martin Williamson

Cammie Smith | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo
 

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15 - Alan Smith (England, 1962-63)



AC Smith was an effective allrounder and, in later years, a leading administrator. A dogged middle-order batsman, a niggly right-arm seamer who bowled off the wrong foot, and a tidy if unspectacular wicketkeeper, his success came early on. He was described more than once as the "complete cricketer". He scored three hundred - two for Oxford in 1959 - held six catches in an innings in 1970 and in 1965 took off his pads and promptly took a hat-trick. He won Blues in all three years for Oxford - he captained them in his last two summers - and after a good summer for Warwickshire was picked, to many people's surprise, to tour Australia and New Zealand in 1962-63 where he kept wicket in six of the eight matches. But competition was fierce and Murray was a better keeper, Parks a better batsman, and he never appeared again. He continued to serve Warwickshire with distinction, leading them to the Championship in 1972 and the Gillette Cup in 1968. After retiring, he was a Test selector, an England tour manager, secretary of Warwickshire, and the first chief executive of the Test & County Cricket Board - in the latter post his unwillingness to commit was legendary. He was also, in his spare time, a director of Aston Villa (he was also a football Blue).

Martin Williamson

Alan Smith | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo
 

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14 - Chris Smith (England, 1983-86)



Chris Smith, who qualified for England by virtue of his English parents, was born in Durban on this day. Keen to pursue a career in cricket and frustrated by the apartheid-era ban on international sport with South Africa, he left to try his luck in England having previously toured the country with Kingsmead Mynahs (essentially Natal U-25s) in 1976. Though not as naturally talented as his younger brother Robin, he made himself into a very fine county batsman for Hampshire with a first-class average in the mid- forties. Smith's success was a triumph of nurture over nature, but he only played eight Tests. He went first ball to Richard Hadlee on debut at Lord's in 1983 but had a decent winter in 1983-84, hitting 91 at Auckland and 66 at Faisalabad. For some reason he wasn't picked against West Indies in 1984 and played only one more Test. He went on to become chief executive of the WACA in Perth.

Rob Smyth

Chris Smith | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo
 

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13 - Tuppy Owen-Smith (South Africa, 1929)



Wisden obituary

Dr Harold Geoffrey "Tuppy" Owen-Smith, who died at Cape Town on February 28, 1990, aged 81, made a great name for himself in England in the 1930s as an exceptional all-round sportsman. His prowess at cricket was at least equalled on the rugby field, where he captained England, and he was a champion lightweight boxer. Born at Rondebosch, Cape Town, on February 18, 1909, he was twenty when he first set foot on English soil as a member of the South African touring side. He had had a thorough grounding as a boy at the Diocesan College from such English professionals as Harry Lee, Newman, Astill and O'Connor, and had already made his presence felt in Western Province's two matches against MCC in 1927-28. In the first match of the tour, bowling on a rain-damaged pitch, he took four for 43 in fourteen overs with his slow leg-breaks, and the records seem to show that Hammond was his first victim in first-class cricket. At the end of the tour, when MCC played a return match with Western Province, Owen-Smith made 32 in the second innings.

He first attracted attention in the early weeks of the 1929 tour by his magnificent fielding in the deep, and especially at cover point. He was fast and he would chase for all he was worth before unleashing a powerful, flat return to the top of the stumps. His anticipation at cover, and his ability to intercept strokes which would leave others standing, made him the star of the fine fielding side, and it is probably safe to say that only two other fielders, Colin Bland and Clive Lloyd, have caused such a stir since his day. In the Second Test at Lord's, going in at No. 7 when his side were in danger of letting a hard-won advantage slip, he first helped Morkel add 48 for the sixth wicket and later took complete control in a last-wicket partnership of 43 with Bell. His judgement and selection of the right ball to hit made a big impression, as did his manipulation of the strike, and he was 52 not out at the close of the innings, having seen South Africa achieve lead of 20 runs. In the Third Test at Headingley, however, they conceded a lead of 102 on first innings and were only 14 runs ahead when they lost their seventh second innings wicket in the last over of the second day. The match seemed as good as over, but next morning Owen-Smith, 27 not out overnight, and Quinn took the score to 167 before Quinn was eighth out, stumped by Duckworth off White. Now Owen-Smith went for the bowling in magnificent style and was in such command that he monopolised the strike before being out for 129, having made 102 before lunch. His stand of 103 with Bell, scored in 65 minutes, has remained a record for South Africa's tenth wicket. So loud and prolonged was the applause while the two returned to the pavilion, they might have won the match for their side. However, England got home, thanks to Woolley, though not without some trouble. In all first-class matches on the tour Owen-Smith made 1,168 runs at 35.39 and took 30 wickets at 25.80 apiece. In addition to his hundred at Leeds he scored 126 against Warwickshire, and the editor of Wisden had no hesitation in choosing him as one of the Five Cricketers of the Year.

In 1930 Owen-Smith returned to England with a Rhodes Scholarship to study medicine at Oxford, and as expected he won his Blue in all three years. In 1931, saving his best for the big occasion, he made 78 at Lord's and bowled 71 overs for 200 runs and six wickets. His bowling had already brought him excellent analyses against Gloucestershire, Lancashire and the Club Cricket Conference. A year later he made 67 against Cambridge, a valuable effort which helped to save the follow-on, and bowled 76 overs, again taking six wickets. In his final year, with examinations impending, he played less but found the hard, dry pitches of 1933 very much to his liking. He obtained bounce as well as turn. At Lord's he took five for 93 against Cambridge and finished fourth in the national averages. When Owen-Smith continued his medical training at St. Mary's Hospital in 1935, he was able to turn out for Middlesex in August, and to a lesser extent in 1936. In 1937 he played in twelve Championship games and took 57 wickets at 19.84, including eight for 103 against Gloucestershire at Lord's. In the Challenge Match that September between Middlesex and Yorkshire at The Oval, which the Yorkshiremen won easily, Owen-Smith made 77 in Middlesex's first innings, the next highest score being 25. His genius with the bat also shone brightly when, playing for MCC at Lord's, he gave his old university a drubbing to the tune of a career highest 168 not out, producing a wide variety of strokes with astonishing ease. And to rub it in, he took five for 33 in Oxford's first innings. In South Africa, he played in the Currie Cup before and after the war, and at Cape Town in 1948-49, after service in the Middle East, he took 65 not out off MCC in the opening match of their tour. In all he made 4,059 runs in first-class cricket for an average of 26.88, while his bowling earned him 319 wickets at 23.22. Quite apart from his 93 catches, he must have saved hundreds of runs by his superb fielding. In Test matches he averaged 42.00 in 1929 with 252 runs to take third place in the averages.

Looking back over the years, it is legitimate to ask why Owen-Smith's cricket aroused so much enthusiasm. Quite apart from the exhilarating nature of his play, it was the young man himself who had such a wide appeal. Cricket in England in the 1920s had largely been dominated by the older generation; the flower of the nation's young manhood had been cut down in Flanders, and Owen-Smith's play and his debonair attitude seemed to fill the gap. A famous writer on the game likened him to Denis Compton more than anyone else he could think of. Like Compton, Owen-Smith was just as likely to make runs with a borrowed bat as with his own; like Compton he communicated his enjoyment of cricket to thousands.

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack

Tuppy Owen-Smith | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo
 

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12 - Dawyne Smith (West Indies, 2004-06)



Tall, aggressive, and powerful, Dwayne Smith shares his name with, among others, the wide receiver for the Wisconsin Badgers, and the winner of the 2002 World Championship of Public Speaking. But when, in December 2003, he was called up to join the West Indian Test squad in South Africa, he was arguably as well known in cricket circles as either of them. All that changed, however, on the final day of the third Test at Newlands, where he brought the calypso back to Caribbean cricket with a wonderful debut century. Smith had been given a surprise opportunity - ahead of his Grenadian namesake Devon - when Marlon Samuels flew home with a knee injury. It was rumoured that Viv Richards had recognised something of himself in the stance of the young Barbadian and, sure enough, he needed just 93 balls to justify his selection, bringing up his hundred with a crashing cover-drive. It was only the second century of Smith's first-class career, but it was enough to stem West Indies' run of seven consecutive defeats in South Africa. His batting reflects both his temperament and his youth, as he is still inclined to lose his wicket under the influence of careless strokeplay, and he made starts, but no more, in the next few Tests. His flamboyant hitting is matched by his athletic fielding, while his useful medium-pacers have already tasted some success at domestic level for Barbados. Despite the fact that he eked out runs at a paltry 8.15 in 17 games in the 2006-07 season, he was picked for the World Cup squad and put in a number of good performances with his typically savage hitting. An impressive tour of England in 2007 earned him selection into West Indies' final 15-man squad for September's Twenty20 World Championship and he continued his connection with the shortest format by signing with Mumbai in the Indian Premier League in 2008.

Andrew Miller May 2008

Dwayne Smith | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo
 

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11 - Devon Smith (West Indies, 2003-2011)





A belligerent left-handed opening batsman from Grenada, Devon Smith was drafted into the West Indies squad ahead of the Test series against India in March 2002, after making 750 runs for Windward Islands in the Busta Cup, though he made his debut 13 months later against a far tougher opponent. In his first Test, against Australia, Smith scored a blazing 62 in a losing cause, but failed to score in the next Test. A good eye compensates for his lack of footwork and throughout the series he showed promise, but it wasn't enough, and he was dropped to smooth off the rough edges. In 2004, he was selected to open against England, and he immediately pulled his team out of a hole with a stroke-filled century. But just as he began to settle into a groove, a freak net injury left him with a fractured thumb, and he missed the next two Tests. He was axed after another failure in the Test series against Australia in 2005-06 and spent two years in the wilderness. He returned to play in the one-dayers against India in 2006-07 and was picked for the World Cup squad where his form was solid rather than spectacular. He failed to move out of first gear against England in 2007, and he followed with a horror tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa that was only saved by his ODI career-best 91 in Johannesburg.

He was dropped again in 2009, but came back to prominence during the 2011 World Cup during which he opened in the absence of an injured Adrian Barath. Smith scored his maiden one-day hundred in West Indies' group match against Ireland and got two more half-centuries in the tournament.

Will Luke and Cricinfo staff May 2011

Devon Smith | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo
 

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10 - Brun Smith (New Zealand, 1947-52)


The New Zealand Test team, Christchurch, March 1947. Brun Smith is farthest right in the front row.



Wisden obituary
Brun Smith, otherwise known as Runty, was a small, aggressive batsman who was a crowd favourite in Christchurch and played four Tests for New Zealand, two of them on the England tour of 1949. He made a vital 96, full of wristy square cuts, in just two hours at Headingley, and an unbeaten 54 in the second innings. During his 96 he is supposed to have warned the slips: I'll hole out to one of you jokers before long. He often did, but not that time. After scoring 23 at Lord's, he lost his place to John Reid. Smith had reached his peak the previous season at home when his three Plunket Shield matches for Canterbury included 153 in 163 minutes against Otago and 146, only slightly slower, in Auckland. He was principal of various primary schools in Christchurch. His father Frank and son Geoff also played for Canterbury, making them the province's only three-generation family. Dick Brittenden wrote of him: He was often lucky, if the failure of a startled slips fieldsman to catch a crimson blur soaring overhead can be regarded as luck for the batsman ... Brilliance in stroke production, eagerness to get on with the game, beautiful fielding and a cheerful and engaging personality made Smith one of the most popular players of his day. He would have been remarkable in any generation.

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack

Brun Smith | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo
 

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9 - Sir Aubrey Smith (England, 1889)





The chance to read one's own obituary is rare. Neville Cardus, on being told that the Buckinghamshire Examiner had described his death and published a moving tribute, paused before saying: "I have no wish to challenge the authority of the provincial press. They must have some information."

Sir Aubrey Smith, the greatest actor-cricketer in the game's history, read of his own demise 59 years before the event. In October 1889 the Graff-Reinet Advertiser announced that he had "succumbed to that fell disease, inflammation of the lungs". "Much regret will be felt at his decease," the article continued. "He made many friends by his kindly disposition." When Smith eventually died of pneumonia, in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 85, he had left a far more imposing legacy. He was, after all, the only captain of England to star in a film with Elizabeth Taylor (Mervyn Le Roy's Little Women).

The son of a London doctor, Smith's early cricket coaching came at the hands of Julius Caesar, once a star batsman for Surrey and an All England player but by then a dropsical wreck teaching boys at Charterhouse. Smith was nonetheless fortunate to come across him. Public school was an expense that his Micawberesque, spendthrift father could ill afford but Dr Smith, with money borrowed from his brother, was able to educate his son all the way to Cambridge University, where he won his Blue.

Smith was a fast-medium bowler with a high action and a useful leg-cutter. But the most striking aspect of his bowling was a curious, curved approach to the wicket that earned him the unwieldy nickname `Round The Corner'. "Sometimes he started from a deep mid-off position, at others from behind the umpire," said Wisden and WG Grace remarked: "It is rather startling when he suddenly appears at the bowling crease."

Smith was also a competent slip fielder and his arms had a telescopic quality when gathering in catches. But, despite an impressive first-class career for Sussex - he took 346 wickets at an average of 22.34 between 1882 and 1896 - an international career never really took off. At least it did not take off on the cricket pitch.

This is surprising, considering that he captained England on their first tour of South Africa, in 1888-89, and he took 134 wickets at 7.61 each. He played only one Test, at Port Elizabeth (the match was awarded Test status some years later), and was easily the best bowler in the match.

Leading a team that included five others making their Test debuts, two of whom were also making their first-class debuts, Smith took 5 for 19 in the first innings and 2 for 42 in the second, although he was no doubt aided by the game being played on matting. It was all over by 3.30pm on the second day.

Smith stayed in South Africa for some time after that tour, going into stockbroking partnership with another member of the team, Monty Bowden, and captaining Transvaal. But in 1896, having returned to London, he made his debut on the West End stage as the arch villain Black Michael in the swashbuckling romance The Prisoner of Zenda.

Who could have envisioned that 41 years later he would appear in a Hollywood version, opposite Raymond Massey, or would be persuading Ronald Colman and David Niven to turn out for his cricket team during shooting?

Smith made the transition from stage to film in the 1920s. His diction was heavy and strident and he would have found the concept of method acting laughable. As Harold Wilson was a professional Yorkshireman, so Smith was a professional Englishman.

He took the Jane Austen approach and stuck rigidly to what he knew, often playing monarchs or crusty martinets. He managed to portray the Duke of Wellington in three unrelated films. But his caricatured screen roles were not too far from the truth. He used to have the Union Jack raised daily at his home near Mulholland Drive and was easily offended by the ***ual mores of others.

In late 1932, as the Bodyline series raged in Australia, Smith founded the Hollywood Cricket Club. He supervised the building of a field and pavilion at Griffith Park, even insisting on the planting of five cartloads of English grass seed. Sadly nothing remains of his handiwork. Los Angeles City Council bulldozed the area and converted it to an equestrian centre for the 1984 Olympics.

Scorecards for Smith's matches indicate the star quality of the occasions. Nigel Bruce, Basil Rathbone, Laurence Olivier and PG Wodehouse were among those who played for him; Smith could be by turns persuasive and forceful at roping in the local talent. Niven recalled that he was once press-ganged into net practice on an evening that he had resolved to spend "chasing some skirt".

In 1937, during shooting of The Prisoner of Zenda, a boat carrying Gubby Allen's Ashes tourists docked for a few days and Smith was beside himself with joy, offering cinematic workshops to a bemused audience of Allen, Hedley Verity and CB Fry.

Another guest in Hollywood was Lancashire's Archie MacLaren who arrived during the filming of The Four Feathers. MacLaren was hard up, as usual, and Smith paid his old crony some pin money as an extra. Many watchings of the film have revealed no sign of MacLaren's patrician features and the Lancashire captain may have been consigned to the cutting- room floor.

Smith was pompous and not over-endowed with humour but he can still be sent out with a good anecdote. During a game at Griffith Park he missed a sharp slip chance and his English butler was ordered to bring some spectacles, which he duly donned. With the next delivery the bowler produced an out-swinger and found the shoulder of the bat. This time the ball came into the slip cordon in a gentle parabola, offering the kind of catch that, as the old Robertson-Glasgow poem has it, "a child would take at midnight with no moon". Smith fluffed it and, as the ball fell to the turf, he snatched off the lenses. "Damn fool brought my reading glasses."

Jeremy Malies, The Wisden Cricketer, March 2004

Sir Aubrey Smith | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo
 

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8 - Jim Smith (England, 1935-37)



Cedric Ivan James Smith, known universally as Big Jim Smith, died at his home near Blackburn on February 8, aged 72. Born at Corsham, he played for Wiltshire from 1926 until 1933, but, having been on the staff of Lord's since 1926, came to the notice of the Middlesex authorities, who persuaded him to qualify for them. To the general public he was at that time unknown and his first season, 1934, was a triumph. With 172 wickets at an average of 18.88, he came sixth in the first-class bowling averages and played for the Players at Lord's. That winter he was a member of the MCC side to the West Indies, a great honour for a player with so little first-class experience. He played in all the Tests on this tour and gave some sensational displays of hitting. His only other Test match was against New Zealand at Old Trafford in 1937. He continued as a very valuable member of the Middlesex side until 1939, and in his six seasons for the county he took 676 wickets at 17.75. Standing six feet four inches and immensely strong, he had the cardinal virtue of bowling at the stumps and revelled in long spells of bowling.

Yet fine bowler and fieldsman that he was, he will surely be remembered most as a batsman whose entry always roused a hum of excitement. His principal stroke (perhaps his only one!) was to advance the left foot approximately in the direction of the ball and then swing with all his might. If the ball was well up (and the foot on the right line) it went with a low trajectory an astonishing distance. Against Gloucestershire at Bristol in 1938 he reached 50 in eleven minutes; disregarding one instance which the connivance of the bowlers rendered farcical, this is a record for first-class cricket. Against Kent at Maidstone in 1935 his 50 took fourteen minutes. In comparison to these herculean feats, his one century, 101 not out against Kent at Canterbury in 1939, was a sedate performance, taking eighty-one minutes! He added 116 for the last wicket with Ian Peebles, his own share being 98.

Wisden Cricketers Almanack

Jim Smith | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo
 

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