Robin Smith (cricketer)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Personal information
Robin Smith

England
Batting style	Right-handed batsman (RHB)
Bowling style	Leg-break
Career statistics
	Tests	ODIs
Matches	62	71
Runs scored	4236	2419
Batting average	43.67	39.01
100s/50s	9/28	4/15
Top score	175	167*

Overs	4	0
Wickets	0	N/A
Bowling average	N/A	N/A
5 wickets in innings	0	N/A
10 wickets in match	0	n/a
Best bowling	0/6	N/A
Catches/stumpings	39/0	26/0
As of 6 June 2005 Source: [1]

Robin Arnold Smith (nicknamed Judge or Judgie, for when he grew his hair long (as he did during the 1991 English cricket season), his look resembled that of a judge. (born 13 September 1963, Durban, South Africa) was a cricketer for Hampshire and England.

Like his older brother Chris, Smith 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.

He played for England in 11 home Test series and on six overseas tours from 1988-1996. Smith was best known for his abilities against fast bowling, with what was regarded as a trademark square-cut that was hit ferociously. 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 not out. Despite his domination of fast, aggressive bowling, Smith suffered from a well-publicised vulnerability to slower bowlers - particularly the leg-spin of Shane Warne.

He scored 167 not out for England against Australia in the 1993 Texaco Trophy at Edgbaston when Australia won by six wickets. This is the highest score made by an Englishman in a One Day International and the highest score made by any batsman who finished on the losing side in such a game.

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 places Smith as the 77th greatest batsman in history, and 17th greatest Englishman (ahead of others such as Geoff Boycott, Alec Stewart and Michael Atherton)^[1]

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

Statistically, Smith remains Hampshire's most successful England batsman since CB Fry.

[edit] References

^ LG ICC Best-Ever Test Batting Records. Retrieved on December 20, 2006.

[edit] External links

Cricket Archive page on Robin Smith

v • d • e 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

v • d • e 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 • 13 Thorpe • 14 White