Lives in Cricket No 40 - Edwin Smith

72 would be seen as one of the best spin bowlers in the county game. He also looked forward to a new development in the form of a one-day knock-out competition in 1963, which was eventually sponsored by Gillette and bore their name. In preparation for this, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire took part in the Midland Counties Knock-out Competition. It was the idea of Mike Turner, the Leicestershire secretary and was played to the proposed new rules, each innings limited to 65 overs with a maximum of 15 per bowler. In the first round (or semi-final), Derbyshire played Leicestershire at Grace Road on 3 May 1962. Donald Carr won the toss and elected to bowl, Les Jackson and Harold Rhodes opening the bowling. It was a good batting wicket and the home side scored 250 for five in their allotted overs, Maurice Hallam top-scoring with 86. Rhodes had the best bowling figures, one for 39, but Edwin wasn’t far behind, taking one for 43 as both bowled the maximum 15 overs. In reply, Donald Carr and Charlie Lee reached a century partnership in 20 overs, but wickets fell and Derbyshire ended up seven runs short with more than three overs in hand. It was deemed a useful exercise, however and one that suggested the side may be competitive in the new competition. The Gillette Cup was to prove the best and most popular of one-day competitions. Gradually, most sides realised that a quality spin bowler was always going to be an asset. Lancashire became one of the finest one- day sides with the use of ‘Flat’ Jack Simmons and David Hughes. Derek Underwood did well for Kent, Norman Gifford for Worcestershire, Ray East for Essex – the list is long and impressive. Leicestershire had a fine one- day side that utilised both Ray Illingworth and Jack Birkenshaw, while Peter Sainsbury and Fred Titmus proved themselves for Hampshire and Middlesex respectively. When the John Player League started in 1969, Brian Langford of Somerset, a similar off spin bowler to Edwin, bowled his eight-over allocation against Essex at Yeovil without conceding a run. Meanwhile Derbyshire, with one of the acknowledged best spin bowlers in the country on their staff, decided that they would go with an all-seam attack in one-day cricket for most of the period between 1963 and 1971. During that time, Edwin Smith played just eight one-day games in nine seasons. Even at this distance, the decision seems a strange one. Of those eight games, Edwin didn’t bowl in four of them, making the team selection even stranger. Did he ever ask why he was consistently omitted? Once or twice, but at that time you largely accepted it and got on with things. There were many matches where perhaps even the change of pace that I would have offered may have brought dividends. I was by that stage a decent lower-order batsman and by no means the worst Family man