Lives in Cricket No 40 - Edwin Smith

69 Chapter Twelve Family man At the end of 1962, Edwin could afford to sit back with a self-satisfied smile. He was now a proud father, Jean having given birth to a daughter, Diane, on 19 October 1961. Meanwhile his cricket career was firmly back on track, after a season in which Derbyshire had maintained seventh place. It could have been better, but poor catching let them down on occasions and Harold Rhodes suffered a troublesome groin injury that ruled him out of several matches. Fate ruled that most of the key matches, against sides near the top of the table, took place during this time and the side was found wanting. Once again the bowling was carried by Les Jackson, in what was to prove his penultimate season. The pace may not have been that of his pomp, nor would anyone have expected it at the age of 41, but he bowled over a thousand overs and took 105 Championship wickets at a shade under 20 runs each. With Ian Buxton proving less effective with the ball and William Richardson’s availability sporadic, the seamer was both shock and stock bowler, completing over 200 more overs than Derek Morgan, who gave willing and able support. Bob Berry left the staff at the end of the year, having rarely featured. He finished with 97 wickets at a shade under 30 over four seasons. It was perhaps not a true reflection of his talent and his figures for his third county did not compare favourably with those achieved at Lancashire and Worcestershire. It is also a worthy comparator of what Edwin’s tally may have been at a county where wickets were more conducive to his skills. There was little wrong with the batting, seven players passing a thousand Championship runs, but the injuries meant that a side accustomed to forcing positive results if they managed enough runs struggled to do so. Edwin took 62 wickets at 22 runs each in 1962, returning to his parsimonious best in so doing. It was his job, as he explains. Now that wickets were covered, the number of real turners were reduced. When conditions were in my favour I was expected to get people out, but when they weren’t, my role was to make the batsmen work for runs. I was 28 years old, knew my game and had to take a senior role in the side. For the first time, Edwin passed 500 Championship runs and in the process moved up to seven in the batting order at times. He made a career-best