Lives in Cricket No 40 - Edwin Smith

105 Chapter Eighteen Centenary summer Quick lessons had been learned after the Lord’s final and for 1970 Derbyshire engaged a relatively unknown South African named Chris Wilkins as their first overseas professional. He had impressed in domestic cricket, where one judge had deemed him to have greater potential than Graeme Pollock and Barry Richards. It sounded impressive and there was hope that if he proved successful it would give the side a lift. Wilkins opened the batting back home but, like many others, before and since, found English early season wickets a challenge. When he moved down the order to number four, it was a different story, as Edwin explains: Chris was perhaps the hardest hitter of a cricket ball I have seen. Clive Lloyd was in the same bracket, but Chris simply smashed it. When he was in the mood, the sun was shining and there was a crowd, he was a terrific entertainer, but he paid no attention to the state of the game. He just played the way he wanted to play. When it came off it was fantastic. Other times he would frustrate us, because we’d be fighting to avoid defeat and he would try to hit over the top and be caught. In the indoor nets at Derby you could never turn your back on him, because if a bowler over-pitched, he would hit it back like a rocket and we would all be diving for cover! Wilkins proved a decent signing, with a good pair of hands and an ability to keep wicket in emergencies, as well as being a change bowler with a knack of taking big wickets, dismissing Geoff Boycott on 99 at Chesterfield in 1970 with the assistance of a diving catch from Edwin. He had an extraordinary eye, as former Derbyshire opening batsman, Alan Hill, explains. He was the first player I ever saw play what is now called a switch hit. It was in the nets at Derby and he was facing David Wilde, who was a pretty lively left-armer. Chris switched his stance and hands as David was about to let go and absolutely smacked it. We all looked at one another, seriously impressed by the hand-eye coordination. His signing galvanised the batting, at least for one season. Whatever the private misgivings of some players over the captaincy, Derbyshire’s centenary summer was a good one. In the County Championship they finished seventh equal, having been top in early August, but Ian Buxton was later to comment that the position was false, three of the side’s seven wins having been achieved with only minutes to spare. Had those matches been drawn, the county would have finished second bottom, the need to