Lives in Cricket No 30 - MJK Smith

3 Contents Introduction 5 Chapter One Finding a small enough bat 8 Chapter Two Records fall at Oxford 18 Chapter Three A cricketer’s hands on an oval ball 25 Chapter Four Romance in the Argentine 33 Chapter Five Capped as an opener 39 Chapter Six A golden summer 47 Chapter Seven In the glare of the Caribbean 55 Chapter Eight Endurance test in India 63 Chapter Nine ‘If you can stand up, you’re playing’ 73 Chapter Ten Triumphant in South Africa 80 Chapter Eleven Ashes frustration 92 Chapter Twelve The captain loses his crown 103 Chapter Thirteen Hotelier of Wootton Court 108 Chapter Fourteen ‘Would you mind if I came back?’ 118 Chapter Fifteen A final balance sheet 123 Chapter Sixteen Triumphs and tribulations as Chairman 129 Chapter Seventeen Back to Broughton Astley 150 Acknowledgements 155 Bibliography 157 Appendix Career Statistics 158 Index 163