David Smith (Gloucestershire cricketer) explained

David Smith

Fullname:

David Robert Smith

Birth Date:

5 October 1934

Birth Place:

Fishponds, Bristol, England

Death Place:

Bristol, England

Batting:

Right-handed

Bowling:

Right-arm medium-fast

Columns:

Column1:

Test

Matches1:

Runs1:

Bat Avg1:

9.50

100S/50S1:

0/0

Top Score1:

Deliveries1:

972

Wickets1:

Bowl Avg1:

59.83

Fivefor1:

Tenfor1:

Best Bowling1:

2/60

Catches/Stumpings1:

2/–

Column2:

First-class

Matches2:

386

Runs2:

4,966

Bat Avg2:

12.32

100S/50S2:

0/6

Top Score2:

Deliveries2:

72,581

Wickets2:

1,250

Bowl Avg2:

23.72

Fivefor2:

Tenfor2:

Best Bowling2:

7/20

Catches/Stumpings2:

294/–

International:

true

Country:

England

Testdebutagainst:

India

Testdebutdate:

11 November

Testdebutyear:

1961

Lasttestdate:

10 January

Lasttestagainst:

India

Lasttestyear:

1962

Source:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/20236.html CricInfo

Date:

7 November

Year:

2022

Module:

Embed:	yes
Position:	Left winger
Years1:	1953–1959
Clubs1:	Bristol City
Caps1:	21
Goals1:	1
Years2:	1959–1960
Clubs2:	Millwall
Caps2:	13
Goals2:	1
Totalcaps:	34
Totalgoals:	2
Nationalteam1:	England youth

David Smith (5 October 1934^[1] – 17 December 2003) was an English cricketer, who played in five Tests for England in India in 1961–1962.

He was one of a trio of pace bowlers, along with Alan Brown and Butch White, who were given their opportunity on the eight Test, five-month tour of India and Pakistan. However, his efforts in the heat and dust of the Indian subcontinent, did not do sufficient to earn him a chance to bowl in an England Test series at home.^[1]

Life and career

Smith was born in Fishponds, Bristol.

He was a lower-order right-handed batsman, and a medium-fast right-arm bowler, who played for Gloucestershire for fifteen seasons from 1956, usually opening the bowling in partnership with Tony Brown. He was a successful county bowler at slightly above medium-pace, able to move the ball off the seam in both directions, and in five seasons he took more than 100 wickets, with a best of 143 wickets in 1960. In a team that was packed with all-rounders, Smith tended to bat fairly low, but he occasionally made useful runs, often in a fairly forthright style.

Smith's only Test cricket came on the long, and by modern standards, arduous Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) tour that started in Pakistan, moved on to India, took in Sri Lanka and then returned to Pakistan, in 1961–62. Leading England fast bowlers such as Fred Trueman and Brian Statham opted out of the tour, and Smith was one of three seam bowlers whose only experience of Test cricket came on the tour. Smith played in only the five Indian Tests, missing the three in Pakistan, and took six wickets in a series dominated by spin bowling. The regular Test fast bowlers resumed their careers in the 1962 English season, and Smith was never selected again.^[1]

Smith was also a footballer who played at outside-left for Bristol City^[2] and Millwall.^[3] ^[4]

David Smith died in Bristol in December 2003, at the age of 69.

Notes and References

Book: Bateman, Colin . If The Cap Fits . 1993 . Tony Williams Publications . 1-869833-21-X . 154 .
Web site: BRISTOL CITY : 1946/47 - 2008/09 . Post War English & Scottish Football League A — Z Player's Transfer Database . 2 April 2010 . 28 January 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190128081157/http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/bristolcity/bristolcity.html . live .
Web site: (Wisden obituary) . 13 February 2007 . 18 July 2012 . https://archive.today/20120718024210/http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/20236.html . live .
Web site: MILLWALL : 1946/47 - 2008/09 . Post War English & Scottish Football League A — Z Player's Transfer Database . 2 April 2010 . 23 September 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170923055125/http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/millwall/millwall.html . live .