Lives in Cricket No 30 - MJK Smith

46 once more, for 129, to give England another emphatic innings win. Mike’s form for Warwickshire remained good. There were scores of 72, 42 and 67, all as an opener, before a disappointing Gentlemen and Players match at Lord’s where Milton made another hundred, but Mike was out for nought and 19. All hope of a place on the boat to Australia was now receding, as Willie Watson was given his chance to stake a claim in the next two Tests. For Mike there remained a job to be done with Warwickshire. The runs still flowed from his bat, but in the season’s last matches they came from number four as Horner was allowed to resume his partnership with Gardner. Useful scores at the Scarborough Festival lifted Mike’s aggregate past 2,000, a target otherwise achieved by only May and Roy Marshall. Despite the disappointments in the major representative matches an average of over 44 evidenced a good season with the bat, but Mike had seen Warwickshire slip down the table. Only a win in their final match, against Middlesex at Lord’s, one of just three successes in a wretched summer, enabled them to avoid the wooden spoon. No Hollies, older players in gradual decline, younger ones not quite delivering the goods and a captain who had to miss eight matches – all these were factors, but Wisden saw the enforced disruption to the batting order as a primary cause. However, Mike harbours no serious complaints about being asked to open: ‘I think going in first is good for you. There are other problems, different mind-sets. Assuming you come through it, it improves your batting.’ Capped as an opener At the Hurlingham Club in the Argentine. From left: Dennis Silk, Chris Howland, Mike, Ossie Wheatley and David Sayer.