Lives in Cricket No 30 - MJK Smith

30 A cricketer’s hands on an oval ball and more at a time, and when he saw the ghost of an opening he leapt at it with a notable turn of speed.’ England’s selectors were among those taking note of the high standard of university rugby as Mike was one of several players chosen for the trial matches. When the side was selected to meet Wales in the season’s first international at Twickenham, he was one of nine players new to international rugby, displacing Martin Regan, who had captained the senior side in the final trial. It was a bold move by the selectors, in which international careers of distinction began for two other Oxford players, Peter Robbins and John ‘Muscles’ Currie. From Cambridge came David Marques, destined to partner Currie in the middle row on a record 22 occasions, while other new caps were Fenwick Allison at full back, wingers Peter Jackson and Peter Thompson, a late replacement for the injured Ted Woodward, Ron Jacobs at prop and Ned Ashcroft at number eight. A tenth player, Dickie Jeeps, fresh from an outstanding Lions tour of South Africa, also won selection for England for the first time. The selectors proved themselves visionaries, for the very next year an outstanding England team would complete the Grand Slam; but for Mike, alone of the new caps that day, his debut was to be his only international appearance. England proved to David Brace clearing in the University rugby match in 1956 with Mike in the background.