Lives in Cricket No 40 - Edwin Smith

121 The retired cricketer juniors alike, all of them aware of his record in the first-class game. What did he say to young spinners? I told them to work hard and to keep bowling until they could put the ball where they wanted it to go every time. Then work on spinning it different amounts. Get used to bowling just outside off stump, so their natural break will hit them, but cultivate an arm ball that keeps going away from the batsman and keeps him on his toes. It’s not easy, but it will come if an individual is prepared to work at it enough. It is sad when former champions are allowed to fade away, without their experience and talent being utilised, even on an occasional basis. Had any Derbyshire spinners over the years ever sought his counsel? No, and I find that quite sad. The only Derbyshire spinner who ever asked me questions and for help was Greg Smith, before he went to Essex. He asked me to show him how I bowled and then worked on spinning it more himself. Most of them today just roll the ball across their fingers, they don’t ‘tweak’ it like we used to do. In recent years Derbyshire have sent lads to India and spin bowling clinics at great expense – I’d have been happy to work with them and give advice and they would only have had to come to Chesterfield! Edwin and Jean now live in comfortable retirement in the Grassmoor village where they both grew up. Their oldest daughter, Diane, worked for Derbyshire County Council, but suffered ill-health and sadly passed away in 2006, aged only 45, leaving two sons, Mark and Christopher. They live at Matlock. Younger daughter Fay lives in Shardlow, near Derby and is a solicitor, married to Mark Williams, a partner in the same legal firm. Their son, Ben, is at school at Trent College, Long Eaton and plays cricket for South Derbyshire under-13s, as well as hockey for Nottinghamshire under-14s. Ask him about his time in the game and his eyes light up, the stories coming one after another. Who were the best batsmen he bowled to? One who stands out was Keith Fletcher. He was a wonderful player of spin bowling, but both Doug Insole and Trevor Bailey at Essex made you really work for wickets. All of them gave spin bowlers headaches. Peter May was equally at home against pace and spin and loved to dominate. There were two left-handers too – Peter and Dick Richardson at Worcestershire – who played off spin very well. They both took good strides and swept or lapped against the spin, both of them were hard to bowl at and were fine players. Harry Pilling was another. He was small and bowling conventional lengths was no use against him. You had to find different ones, or he would be quick to drive you, or, if you dropped short, he was a terrific cutter and puller. As for spin bowlers, he willingly proclaims Shane Warne perhaps the