Denis Smith (cricketer)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Denis Smith England (ENG)
Batting style	Left-hand bat
Bowling type	Right-arm medium
	Tests	First-class
Matches	2	443
Runs scored	128	21843
Batting average	32.00	31.65
100s/50s	-/1	32/116
Top score	57	225
Balls bowled	-	1516
Wickets	-	20
Bowling average	-	36.70
5 wickets in innings	-	1
10 wickets in match	-	-
Best bowling	-	5/37
Catches/stumpings	1/-	382/5
Test debut: 13 July 1935 Last Test: 27 July 1935 Source: [1]

Denis Smith (24 January 1907 – 12 September 1979) was a cricketer who played for Derbyshire between 1927 and 1952 and in two Test matchs for England in 1935. He scored over 21,000 runs in first class cricket.

Smith was born in Somercotes, Derbyshire. Smith made his debut for Derbyshire in June 1927 against Somerset, when he was out for a duck in the only innings he played and was given a chance to bowl just 10 balls. A tall left-handed opening batsman who played his strokes, Smith was the mainstay of Derbyshire's batting line-up during the 1930s, the most successful period in the county's history. Derbyshire came second in the Championship in 1935 and won it in 1936.

Smith played two Test matches against the South Africans in 1935 and did well enough to be considered unlucky not to play more. He played regularly for Derbyshire until 1951, acting as wicket-keeper in the immediate post-war period. He later became county coach. His career aggregate of runs and his 30 centuries for the county were both Derbyshire records until beaten by Kim Barnett in the 1990s.^[1]

Smith was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1936.

Smith died in Derby at the age of 72.

[edit] References