Collie Smith
Encyclopedia
O'Neil Gordon 'Collie' Smith (born 5 May 1933 in Kingston
, Jamaica
, died 9 September 1959 in Stoke-on-Trent
, Staffordshire
, England
) was a West Indian cricket
er.
A hard-hitting batsman and off spin bowler, Smith was rated highly in West Indies. He idolised Jim Laker
for which reason he was nicknamed 'Jim' for a time. In his third first class match, he hit 169 for Jamaica against the touring Australians and was immediately included in the Test side. He started his Test career scoring 104 on debut against Australia. But after a 'pair' in the next match, he was dropped.
In England in 1957, he scored 161 and 168 in Test matches, once driving Brian Statham
into the car park. Next year, he scored a hundred and took 5 wickets in an innings against India at Delhi.
The accident happened while he was travelling with his West Indian team-mates Garry Sobers and Tom Dewdney
. They were driving to London
to attend a charity match the next day, Sobers being the driver. The trip had already been delayed because of the traffic. At around four in the morning, the car ran into a 10-ton cattle truck driven by a Mr. Andrew Saunders. The accident happened on A34 near Stone
in Staffordshire.
The injuries seemed minor initially and Smith even told Sobers, in reference to Dewdney, 'Don't worry about me. Look after the big fellow'. Smith was sleeping in the back seat and had been thrown forward. It injured his spine badly and he soon went into a coma. Smith died without regaining his consciousness three days later. His body was taken to Jamaica where 60,000 people attended the funeral.
Smith has a biography named The Happy Warrior written by Ken Chaplin a year after his death. He had the nicknames Mighty Mouse and Wayside preacher because he liked reading the lesson in the church.
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...
, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, died 9 September 1959 in Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...
, Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
) was a West Indian cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er.
A hard-hitting batsman and off spin bowler, Smith was rated highly in West Indies. He idolised Jim Laker
Jim Laker
James "Jim" Charles Laker was a cricketer who played for England in the 1950s, known for "Laker's match" in 1956 at Old Trafford, when he took nineteen wickets in England's victory against Australia...
for which reason he was nicknamed 'Jim' for a time. In his third first class match, he hit 169 for Jamaica against the touring Australians and was immediately included in the Test side. He started his Test career scoring 104 on debut against Australia. But after a 'pair' in the next match, he was dropped.
In England in 1957, he scored 161 and 168 in Test matches, once driving Brian Statham
Brian Statham
John Brian "George" Statham, CBE was one of the leading English fast bowlers in 20th-century English cricket. Initially a bowler of a brisk fast-medium pace, Statham was able to remodel his action to generate enough speed to become genuinely fast...
into the car park. Next year, he scored a hundred and took 5 wickets in an innings against India at Delhi.
Death
During 1958 and 1959 he played for Burnley in the Lancashire League where he set a league record of 306*. He died from injuries sustained in a car accident in 1959 at the age of 26.The accident happened while he was travelling with his West Indian team-mates Garry Sobers and Tom Dewdney
Tom Dewdney
David Thomas Dewdney was a West Indian cricketer who played in nine Tests between 1955 and 1958. He was in the car driven by Garry Sobers when it collided with a truck and caused the death of fellow test player Collie Smith...
. They were driving to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to attend a charity match the next day, Sobers being the driver. The trip had already been delayed because of the traffic. At around four in the morning, the car ran into a 10-ton cattle truck driven by a Mr. Andrew Saunders. The accident happened on A34 near Stone
Stone, Staffordshire
Stone is an old market town in Staffordshire, England, situated about seven miles north of Stafford, and around seven miles south of the city of Stoke-on-Trent. It is the second town, after Stafford itself, in the Borough of Stafford, and has long been of importance from the point of view of...
in Staffordshire.
The injuries seemed minor initially and Smith even told Sobers, in reference to Dewdney, 'Don't worry about me. Look after the big fellow'. Smith was sleeping in the back seat and had been thrown forward. It injured his spine badly and he soon went into a coma. Smith died without regaining his consciousness three days later. His body was taken to Jamaica where 60,000 people attended the funeral.
Smith has a biography named The Happy Warrior written by Ken Chaplin a year after his death. He had the nicknames Mighty Mouse and Wayside preacher because he liked reading the lesson in the church.