Lives in Cricket No 40 - Edwin Smith

133 Team mates and friends Phil Russell broke into the Derbyshire side as Edwin was coming to the end of his playing career and went on to take over 500 wickets in all competitions, before himself becoming Derbyshire coach. He later moved to South Africa, where his reputation as a coach was cemented by much success. He is ideally placed to assess Edwin as a player and coach. As a teammate he was always polite and helpful to the younger players. In those days some senior players around the circuit didn’t offer too much advice to the new boys, because they were understandably protecting their own places. Edwin, like a few others at Derbyshire, was more accommodating. For me, Edwin fell short of the very best off spinners of the era, who were Fred Titmus, Ray Illingworth and David Allen, because he played largely on seaming wickets and had less experience of and exposure to those that helped spinners. He was a fine bowler, although Venkat was for me a world-class bowler who it was a pleasure to watch and learn from. It is also worthwhile to take a view from a fellow spinner, Fred Swarbrook. Another who took over 500 wickets for the county, he came into the side at the age of 16 and bowled at the opposite end to Edwin for several seasons. Like Phil Russell, much of his later career was spent in South Africa, where he also became a respected coach. Edwin was a superb team mate, on and off the field. He always made me feel welcome when I first joined the staff and he was happy to talk to me about bowling whenever he was able to do so. Bowling on green tops didn’t help him all that much but he fulfilled his role in propping up an end and keeping it tight while they had a breather admirably. While I wouldn’t put him in the same bracket as the likes of Fred Titmus and Ray Illingworth, the bottom line is he took 1200 wickets in his career! In the many years that he played for Derbyshire there were plenty of spinners who were given trials and taken on to the staff and none of them were deemed good enough to take his place. It is perhaps appropriate that the final word should go to England and Derbyshire legend Bob Taylor, who kept to Edwin for over ten years, as well as doing the same to Venkat and to Geoff Miller. He was better placed than most to assess and compare his talents. Edwin was a very good off spinner at a time when English county cricket was awash with them. There have been times when a bowler of his quality would have found himself an automatic choice in the national side, because he was a very fine bowler. I first met him when I trialled with Derbyshire and he had his arm in plaster. I saw him enjoying a cigarette that day and later, when I played with him for the first time, I saw his fingers were really badly stained with what I thought was nicotine. I was amazed that someone who