Lives in Cricket No 40 - Edwin Smith

136 Acknowledgements I would like to thank all of Edwin’s former team mates who are quoted in the book for their assistance and unfailing good humour in answering the many questions that I put to them in the course of my research. I am especially indebted to Harold Rhodes, who was very helpful with general information and contacts, as well as to Peter Gibbs, who was both prompt and courteous in answering my requests for assistance in his role as secretary of the club’s former players association. Special mention should also go to David Smith, who made contact with Phil Russell and Fred Swarbrook when he was in South Africa and put them in touch with me. I would also like to thank Geoffrey Boycott and David Steele for their valued insight of Edwin as an opponent, and the doyen of groundsmen, Walter Goodyear, for his insights into the period and the players. My time with him was both fascinating and memorable. Thanks also to my good friend, crime writer Martin Edwards, for his support and encouragement since I started my blog on Derbyshire cricket (www.derbyshirecricket.blogspot.com) and for general advice on the writing process. Thanks to the Derby Telegraph for the historical photographs that I use with permission. Also to North Wingfield History Society for the photograph of East Street and to Grassmoor Cricket Club for their old team pictures. The contemporary photos of Edwin, his medals and trophies are by me. I am also grateful to Mark Rowe of the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians, for keeping me on the right path as the book progressed and to the association for agreeing to publish it. Thanks too to proof- reader Kit Bartlett. Most of all I would like to thank Edwin and Jean Smith. An interview for my blog made me realise that this was a story that was worth telling in greater detail. I am grateful for their hospitality, good humour and friendship. It really has been a pleasure to get to know you both. Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Sylvia and children Stephen and Rachel. Their encouragement, forbearance and support meant more than I could ever say and I am glad to have you all in my life.