Lives in Cricket No 40 - Edwin Smith

5 Introduction Edwin Smith is a Derbyshire legend. It is not a status that one acquires easily in life; in Edwin’s case, it was down to bowling over 13,000 overs for the county, over a career that ran from 1951 to 1971. Only seven men have taken 1,000 career wickets for the club and Edwin was the last to reach that milestone. In all likelihood he will be the last, given the limitation on County Championship cricket today and the greater mobility of players, keen to make the most from a relatively short career. He took a hundred wickets in a season once, in 1955, but spinners rarely do that on Derbyshire wickets and certainly not when you’re coming on after the legendary Cliff Gladwin and Les Jackson. Edwin normally got on as second change, after Derek Morgan and there were many times when there wasn’t much left by that point. When the great pair retired, they were replaced by Harold Rhodes and Brian Jackson. More bowlers who often took out the top order and a good part of the middle, leaving Edwin to feast on the scraps that remained. If they failed, it was usually a good batting wicket and his role would often become that of stock bowler, keeping it quiet, but not missing the chance of winkling one out with his off spin variations. There were certain tracks around the county circuit where spin was the road to success, and that is where he was expected to cash in – and usually did. He took five wickets in an innings on 51 occasions and year after year took between 60 and 90 wickets, ending his career with 1217 of them at less than 26 runs each. As for the economy rate, he went for less than two- and-a-half runs an over, the benchmark of parsimony by which the very best Derbyshire bowlers have been judged. I saw Edwin bowl on many occasions, but wish I could turn the clock back and see him again with the benefit of experience. I was 12 when he retired and in the naivety of youth was more taken by the pace of Alan Ward and Harold Rhodes, little realising the consummate guile that made Edwin one of the best bowlers of his type in the country, this at a time when there were a lot more of them to admire than there are today. If he was playing now he would walk into the England team, as a cunning bowler who imparted strong spin between his index and middle fingers. He was a master of flight, line and length and when you’re considering the greatest Derbyshire spinners, then he has to be included in the discussions. It is tribute to his skill that, when we signed the great Indian spinner Srinivasan Venkataraghavan in the mid-1970s, my father watched the new overseas signing for a few overs then shook his head.