Robert Smith (cricketer)

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Robert Smith (following his retirement from first-class cricket Robert Posnett Stevens; November 1, 1848 — May 1, 1899) was an English cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and a slow right-arm underarm bowler. He was born in Sawley, was educated at Castle Donnington School in Leicestershire and died at Staunton Grange, Nottinghamshire.

Smith took part in the very first fixture played by Derbyshire as a county team, against a Lancashire side who posted the lowest total against Derbyshire in the history of first-class cricket. He subsequently played in nine first-class matches for the team before being selected, while also appearing for the United North of England team in an 1874 first-class along with early leading lights of cricket such as Tom Emmett, former Yorkshire captain Ephraim Lockwood, and uncle-and-nephew pairing Andrew (a two-time Test player) and Yorkshire captain Luke Greenwood.

The South of England had at their disposal early soon-to-become Test greats such as James Lillywhite jnr., Harry Jupp, and a certain Dr. William Gilbert Grace, a combination of early Test cricketers who served to overpower their less experienced opponents. A return match saw a three-day draw, though it came complete with a nine-wicket haul for Grace.

Smith was designated captain for the 1876 season, the first match of which brought vengeance for the young bowler as his all-England team ran out innings victors against the United South of England. He followed this up with consistent performances between 1877 and 1878, while 1879 brought a 2-4 win-loss record which would see a team which was to soon be facing an inter-Test Australian team, captained by Harry Boyle, visiting England for some steady match practice.

1880 saw Smith open for the Gentlemen against the Players, along with future Derbyshire teammate George Barrington, just three weeks after an innings victory over a Canadian representative team, which included future Statesian expat Thomas Phillips, a keen and deadly efficient tourmember of the 1880 Canadian tour of England against non-county teams, and Middlesex and Gloucestershire first-teamer Walter Gilbert, cousin of WG Grace.

He continued turning out County Match performances against future Championship sides before Derbyshire played host to the touring Australians in 1880, a match which the highly-experienced Austrlaian team, consisting entirely of contemporary Test players, won with an innings to spare. Further matches of this variety were played over the following four years, each with effectively identical results, though these were not to knock the confidence from Smith, who continued to appear regularly for Derbyshire from 1880 until he relinquished his captaincy in 1883, though he played for one more year with the team.

Smith, an early County exponent of underarm bowling, quit first-class cricket altogether in 1884, before changing his name to Robert Stevens and continuing his secondary trade as a farmer and labourer, accompanied by wife Sarah, a brother, John, eight years his junior, and a domestic servant. Smith died at the age of 50.