Lives in Cricket No 40 - Edwin Smith

89 Testimonial year cricket scene. Alan Ward first joined the staff in 1965 and we were very impressed by him. He was quick but raw and took three wickets in the Gillette Cup match against Essex at Chesterfield, when we had a few injuries. Over the next few seasons, Alan exploded on to the scene, though at that time he was very skinny and obviously needed to work on his strength and fitness. He played two first-class matches in 1966 but broke down and couldn’t bowl in the second innings of either. Fred Swarbrook had looked a very good player for Derbyshire Schools and could score runs and bowl impressive slow left-arm. I was impressed by him and he turned into a very able county cricketer, definitely the best of his kind that I played with at Derbyshire. It had been a fine season for Edwin, one of his best. When he had some days off he continued, as he had always done, to go back to Grassmoor and work a day or two in the engineer’s office, or the fitting shop. It repaid them for letting him off to play cricket throughout the summer and for keeping his job open. He didn’t get paid for doing so, but, in the manner of the man, he felt that it was the right thing to do. The season 1967 was marked by steady improvement. The side moved to sixth in the table and lost only five games all summer, although only the same number were won. As the season progressed, an opening partnership became established that would prove very effective over the following seasons, despite the very different routes into the game for the players concerned. Again, Edwin explains. David Smith came out of the Yorkshire leagues and was a typically gritty left-hander. He took over the mantle from Ian Hall, who had suffered a serious leg injury and missed many matches. David wasn’t often a free-scoring player, but he was very effective for several seasons, as well as proving a very safe slip fielder. I remember batting well against Glamorgan and making a few runs in the lower order, almost catching up David, who had opened the batting, in the process. Eventually, I played one shot too many and holed out. As I walked past Peter Walker, he said to me ‘Can you not take that other fella with you? We’re fed up watching him bat’. Peter Gibbs was different. He had learned his game on good wickets and came to us from Oxford University, where he could play his expansive drives with confidence on that square. He was a lovely, stylish player and was a pleasure to watch when he got going, which was often. The two players were both impressed by their side’s leading spinner. David Smith lived in Chesterfield for some time and got to know Edwin well. ‘Tat’ and myself travelled together for a number of years and when you share a car with someone for that length of time you get to know them very well. Edwin, although a working class lad, like most of us in those days was blessed with manners better associated with the