Lives in Cricket No 40 - Edwin Smith

27 First team regular - and capped wrote in the 1954 club yearbook: Smith was as accurate and, when the wicket helped him, as effective as ever, but due to the departure of Rhodes he was necessarily called upon to bowl on wickets unsuited to his style and, lacking sufficient variety or experience, had little success. He continued with mention of a threat to his place: Carter latterly showed he had real promise and if he can bowl with increasing accuracy, might prove the left-hander sought after for many years. Perhaps the captain was being unfairly critical of Carter. He had bowled 88 overs in the summer and had taken 12 wickets at an average of just 16 runs each, conceding less than three runs an over. It showed the high expectations of young bowlers in a disciplined attack. Carter got into the side in August and, at the age of 19, took two wickets in each innings as Derbyshire beat Leicestershire at Derby by ten wickets. Better was to follow at Chesterfield, on a wicket that Edwin would undoubtedly have enjoyed, as the home side beat Somerset by an innings and 82 runs. Carter took seven successive wickets in the second innings, ending with figures of 19-7-46-7. It was to prove the highpoint of his brief career, but at the end of the summer Edwin was well aware that he had a fight on his hands for the role of first-choice spinner Reg and I were good friends. We bowled a similar style, albeit with different hands and worked together in the nets, encouraging each other on and trying out different things. Where I ended up winning was that I was more accurate and could generally be relied upon to keep it tight when we were waiting on a new ball, or just wanting to give Cliff and Les a breather. My batting also came on more quickly and so I had more to offer. Reg had hard luck though and at another time could have been given greater opportunity. Edwin’s best performance of the summer had come against the visiting Australians at Chesterfield. On a soft wicket, where play didn’t start until after lunch on the first day, the visitors were dismissed for 197, Gladwin taking five wickets and Jackson three. Only Richie Benaud’s aggressive 70 saved them from embarrassment. It was Derbyshire’s turn to struggle on the second day, being dismissed for just 69. Second time around, Australia did better and at 88 for two looked set for a big score, but as soon as Edwin came on to partner Cliff Gladwin, the wickets started to fall. Both opener Colin McDonald and Benaud were bowled by what were described as ‘magnificent balls’ and the innings became a procession. Australia were all out for 146 and thus made their two lowest scores of the tour at that point. Edwin’s analysis was 16-3-36-5 and he claimed some notable scalps among his victims, all of them despite a badly bruised spinning finger, sustained when attempting a diving catch