Sydney Smith (cricketer, born 1881)

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Sydney Smith
Personal information
Full name
Sydney Gordon Smith
Born(1881-01-15)15 January 1881
San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago
Died25 October 1963(1963-10-25) (aged 82)
Auckland, New Zealand
BattingLeft-handed
BowlingSlow left-arm orthodox
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1899–1900 to 1905–06
Trinidad
1907 to 1914Northamptonshire
1917–18 to 1925–26Auckland
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 211
Runs scored 10920
Batting average 31.28
100s/50s 14/60
Top score 256
Balls bowled 40396
Wickets 955
Bowling average 18.08
5 wickets in innings 71
10 wickets in match 19
Best bowling 9/34
Catches/stumpings 156/0
Source: Cricket Archive, 28 May 2014

Sydney Gordon Smith (15 January 1881 in

Australian
sides.

West Indies career

Smith was a forceful left-handed middle-order batsman and a left-arm spin bowler. He played first for Trinidad in the

Lord Brackley's team
three years later.

Sydney Smith in 1906

He was selected to tour England with the second West Indies team in 1906. He was described pre-tour as "the best amateur bowler in the West Indies, bowls slow left hand; can also bat very well"[1] and "he is regarded as the crack bowler of the side. A left-hander with easy delivery who can make the ball break either way, and who sends down a deceptive fast ball. He can hit with vigour and precision and cuts well. He is a good field in the slips".[2] Smith started the tour extremely well, being particularly effective against the weaker sides. After 8 matches (4 first class, 4 against minor teams) he had scored over 700 runs and taken over 50 wickets. After that his batting was disappointing although he continued to take wickets, including 12 in the final match against Northamptonshire. In first-class matches he scored 571 runs at an average of 24.82, including a century against Hampshire and taking 66 wickets at an average of 24.36. In all matches he performed the "double", scoring 1107 runs and taking 116 wickets, leading the averages in both categories.

England career

After the 1906 tour, he stayed in England to qualify for county cricket with Northamptonshire. During his two-year residence qualification he was only able to play against the touring teams. In 1907 he took 10 wickets against the South Africans and in 1908 he scored 23 and 76* and took 9 wickets against the Philadelphians.

When he started playing regularly in

First World War
. In all he played 119 first class matches for Northamptonshire scoring 6396 runs (with 12 centuries) and taking 502 wickets.

During his period with Northamptonshire he twice toured the West Indies; in

1912–13
. In 1910–11 he was second in the tourists first class batting averages and led their bowling averages, while 1912–13 his batting was a little disappointing but he was still second in the tourists' bowling averages.

New Zealand career

Financial problems and the ill-health of a member of his family led Smith to move in late 1915 to New Zealand, where he settled in

1925–26
, when he retired from the first class game.

In

1923–24. "He used his height to the full to bowl a leg-break with a dropping ball and gave some fine exhibitions with the bat, though already in his mid-thirties".[4]
In all he played five times for New Zealand and in 26 first class matches for Auckland.

His uncles Frederick and Augustus Smith played for Barbados in early inter-colonial cricket.

A biography, Cricket's Mystery Man: The Story of Sydney Gordon Smith: West Indies, MCC, New Zealand, by Bill Francis, was published in Australia in 2014.

See also

References

  1. ^ Cricket – A Weekly Record of the Game, 1906 page 178
  2. ^ The West Indian Tour of England 1906 by Gerry Wolstenholme, page 8
  3. ^ "Cricket: S. G. Smith in Auckland". Auckland Star: 9. 23 November 1915.
  4. ^ T. W. Reese, New Zealand Cricket, Volume II 1914-1933, 1936, p. 38.

External links

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