Dave Langford-Smith

David "Dave" Langford-Smith (born December 7, 1976) is an Australian-born Irish cricketer who, on 13 June 2006, became the first man to take a wicket in a One Day International for Ireland, when he dismissed Ed Joyce (a former Ireland cricketer making his debut for England) at Belfast.^[1] A right-handed batsman and right arm fast-medium bowler,^[2] he has played 34 times for the Ireland cricket team as of 10 June 2007.^[3] Dave also plays for, Phoenix Cricket club /, where he is a strong player and is the head coach of all teams. He has Played for Phoenix for several years.

Cricket career

born 7 December 1976 in Sydney, New South Wales,^[2] Langford-Smith's first two Ireland matches were played in June 2005, but he was playing against Ireland for the MCC as Ireland warmed up for the 2005 ICC Trophy.^[4] He made his debut for Ireland proper on 23 April 2006, playing against Hampshire^[3] in a C&G Trophy match.^[5]

He continued playing in the C&G Trophy that year,^[5] and made his first-class debut on 17 May 2006 in an 2006 ICC Intercontinental Cup match against Namibia.^[6] This was followed by a C&G Trophy match against Middlesex at Lord's^[5] and the aforementioned ODI against England in Belfast, which was his^[7] and Ireland's first One-Day International.^[8]

Langford-Smith then played in the 2006 European Championship in Scotland in August,^[9] playing against Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands and Scotland. This was followed by a match against the MCC at Lord's^[3] and an Intercontinental Cup match against Scotland in Aberdeen.^[6]

Langford-Smith's next matches for Ireland were in Division One of the World Cricket League in Nairobi in early 2007,^[3] playing in ODIs against Scotland, Kenya, Canada and the Netherlands.^[7] He then played in an Intercontinental Cup match against the UAE in Abu Dhabi^[6] before heading to the West Indies to take part in the 2007 Cricket World Cup.^[7]

He played in all nine of Ireland's matches in the 2007 World Cup, taking seven wickets,^[10] and has continued in the Irish side since, playing in the 2007 Friends Provident Trophy^[5] and in the final of the Intercontinental Cup against Canada.^[6] This is his most recent game for Ireland at the time of writing.^[3] He was not named in Ireland's squad for their ODIs against India and South Africa in June 2007 due to injury,^[11] though he turned out for his club, Phoenix Cricket Club, the day after the squad was announced.^[12]

Statistics

In all matches for Ireland, Langford-Smith has scored 246 runs at an average of 15.38 with a top score of 39 against Somerset in May 2007,^[3] also his highest List A score.^[2] He has taken 48 wickets at an average of 28.35, with best innings bowling figures of 5/65 against Scotland in August 2006,^[3] also his best first-class bowling performance^[2] and the only time he has taken five wickets in an innings for Ireland.^[3] His highest first-class score with the bat is six not out, and his best List A bowling performance is 3/32. That List A bowling performance is his best ODI bowling performance,^[2] against Scotland.^[13]

References