Robin Smith (cricketer)

Robin Arnold Smith (born 13 September 1963)^[1] is an English former cricketer.

Smith was nicknamed Judge or Judgie for his resemblance to a judge when he grew his hair long.^[2] Like his older brother Chris, he was unable to play for the country of his birth because of the exclusion of the apartheid regime from international cricket, but because he had English parents he qualified to play for England.^[1]

He played for England in eleven home test series and on six overseas tours from 1988 to 1996. Smith was best known for his abilities against fast bowling, with what was regarded as a trademark square-cut that was hit ferociously.^[1]

Early Life and career

Smith was born in Durban, South Africa. In his first test at Headingley in 1988, he shared a century partnership with fellow South African born batsman Allan Lamb. This was one of very few century partnerships for England during the series against the firepower of the West Indies fast bowlers. The following summer, 1989, Smith was the only successful batsman in the Ashes series making two centuries. In his second hundred at Trent Bridge, he arrived with England already three wickets down chasing 600, and played some powerful shots - particularly off Mervyn Hughes whose bowling figures were, at one point 4-0-38-0.

Late career

His highest test score, 175 against the West Indies in Antigua, was made as England replied to Brian Lara's record-breaking innings of 375. Despite his domination of fast, aggressive bowling, Smith suffered from a well-publicised vulnerability to slower bowlers - particularly the leg-spin of Shane Warne.

Smith was one of England's most courageous players. He was targeted by the West Indies at Antigua in 1989-90 for fast short pitched bowling giving him no room for his favourite shots. During that innings, he was hit on the finger (subsequently diagnosed as broken) and hit flush on the jaw by a bouncer from Courtney Walsh - but neither blow forced him to retire hurt.

He scored 167 not out for England against Australia in the 1993 Texaco Trophy at Edgbaston, when Australia won by six wickets. This was the highest score made by an England batsman in an ODI (until Alex Hales scored 171 against Pakistan in 2016), and was the highest score made by any batsman who finished on the losing side in such a game (until Charles Coventry scored 194 against Bangladesh in a losing cause).

Rising in stats

Despite this, when Smith was dropped from the England team it was popularly perceived as premature, particularly given his Test batting average of over 43. Backing this up is the ICC's historical rankings of Test batsmen, which placed Smith as the 77th greatest batsman in history, and 17th greatest Englishman (ahead of others such as Geoff Boycott, Alec Stewart and Mike Atherton).^[3]

In 1994, before Smith scored 175 in the fifth and final Test against the West Indies, he was accused by the then England coach Keith Fletcher of 'having too many fingers in too many pies.'^[4][5]

County cricket

In county cricket, Smith played for Hampshire, captaining them from 1998 to 2002, before retiring from first-class cricket in 2003.

Until Kevin Pietersen (another English cricketer born in South Africa) was signed by Hampshire from Nottinghamshire in 2005, Smith was Hampshire's most successful England batsman since C. B. Fry.

References

External links

• Player profile: Robin Smith from CricketArchive
• Player profile: Robin Smith from ESPNcricinfo

England squads
England squad – 1992 Cricket World Cup (runners-up) 1 Gooch (c) 2 Botham 3 DeFreitas 4 Fairbrother 5 Hick 6 Illingworth 7 Lamb 8 Lewis 9 Pringle 10 Reeve 11 Small 12 Smith 13 Stewart (wk) 14 Tufnell England squad – 1996 Cricket World Cup 1 Atherton (c) 2 Cork 3 DeFreitas 4 Fairbrother 5 Gough 6 Hick 7 Martin 8 Illingworth 9 Russell (wk) 10 NMK Smith 11 RA Smith 12 Stewart (wk) 13 Thorpe 14 White Dermot Reeve was called up as an injury replacement.