David Smith

Smith was born in Fishponds, Bristol. He was a lower-order right-handed batsman, and a medium-fast right-arm bowler, who played for Gloucestershire for fifteen seasons from 1956, usually opening the bowling in partnership with Tony Brown. He was a successful county bowler at slightly above medium-pace, able to move the ball off the seam in both directions, and in five seasons he took more than 100 wickets, with a best of 143 wickets in 1960. In a team that was packed with all-rounders, Smith tended to bat fairly low, but he occasionally made useful runs, often in a fairly forthright style. Smith's only Test cricket came on the long, and by modern standards, arduous Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) tour that started in Pakistan, moved on to India, took in Sri Lanka and then returned to Pakistan, in 1961–62. Leading England fast bowlers such as Fred Trueman and Brian Statham opted out of the tour, and Smith was one of three seam bowlers whose only experience of Test cricket came on the tour. Smith played in only the five Indian Tests, missing the three in Pakistan, and took six wickets in a series dominated by spin bowling. The regular Test fast bowlers resumed their careers in the 1962 English season, and Smith was never selected again. Smith was also a footballer who played at outside-left for Bristol City and Millwall. David Smith died in Bristol in December 2003, at the age of 69.