Lives in Cricket No 40 - Edwin Smith

102 Lord’s in the summer of ‘69 only fourth or fifth change, as the county fixation with seam continued. Seven seam bowlers appeared during the summer, one of them a young lad from Darley Dale named Mike Hendrick, who made an early impression. Mike bowled accurately and moved the ball around, but at that stage he looked like a good feed would do him good! He needed time to fill out and when he did, he became an international bowler, as we all know. He was a nice lad and eager to learn. Like all the best Derbyshire bowlers, he didn’t like giving away easy runs and so bowled just short of a length. Sometimes he got criticism for that, but he became a very fine bowler. By the time the Lord’s final arrived, Edwin had been bowling well and with the usual accuracy. His four for 43 had contributed to a win over Lancashire at Blackpool, while match figures of four for 82 in 35 overs could not prevent a loss to Northamptonshire. Edwin travelled to Lord’s with the Derbyshire squad and takes up the story. I was bowling well. A month earlier, I had taken five for 73 in an innings against Yorkshire at Chesterfield. I usually did well against them and that day I bowled 39 overs and only had a three-over break! So I was hopeful I might get picked for the final. Besides my record against Yorkshire, Lord’s was a ground where spinners normally did well. Certainly Fred Titmus got his share of wickets there over the years! The night before the game, we had a team meeting in the hotel and there was no indication of the final eleven. We chatted about the game as a team and agreed that if Derek won the toss, we should bat and set them a total to chase. The next day, he went out to toss and came back in to the pavilion shortly afterwards. ‘We’ve won the toss and we’re bowling,’ he said. ‘Edwin, you’re not playing, Fred – you’re in.’ I was stunned. A few players were, as Derek had changed his mind and completely ignored what we had discussed the previous evening. We bowled six seam bowlers that day and Yorkshire got too many because of the lack of variety. It had served us well in previous rounds, but Lord’s was a different wicket and needed different tactics. Would it have changed the result if I had played? Maybe not, but they’d have had to think a bit more about how to get their runs and I don’t think they would have got as many. Spinner Don Wilson took three wickets for Yorkshire in the final, Yorkshire’s 219 for eight always looking beyond an insipid batting line-up that was weakened further when Mike Page injured his side in catching Brian Close. Edwin came on as twelfth man to replace him, but could only look on as Yorkshire passed 200, a challenging score at that time in the one-day game.