Gerald Smithson
Encyclopedia
Gerald Arthur Smithson was an English
cricket
er, who played for Yorkshire
between 1946 and 1949, his highest innings for the county being 169 against Leicestershire
at Grace Road
, Leicester
in 1947. He represented England on the Marylebone Cricket Club
(MCC) tour of the West Indies in 1947-48. Smithson later played for Leicestershire between 1951 and 1956, and assisted Hertfordshire
between 1957 and 1962.
Perhaps Smithson's most famous innings was the 98 he scored for Yorkshire in the Roses Match
of 1947 against Lancashire
when he was aged 20, and which has been described in the writings of broadcaster and journalist Michael Parkinson
(Parkinson's Lore, London: Pavilion, 1981). According to the then Yorkshire captain
, Norman Yardley
, his batting invited comparison with the young Australians of the time. Historian Allan Hill called him a stylist of the David Gower
school, and wrote that this particular innings "aroused hopes of an exciting future".
Conscripted into National Service
as a Bevin Boy in the coal mines after World War II
, he worked at Askern
Colliery in South Yorkshire, before receiving special permission (after his case had been debated in the House of Commons) to tour the West Indies with the MCC team of 1947-48. Smithson he took part in two Test
matches in the Kensington Oval
in Bridgetown
, Barbados
and the Queen's Park Oval
in Port of Spain
, Trinidad
- where the West Indies trio of Frank Worrell
, Clyde Walcott
and Everton Weekes
first appeared together. He was injured on the tour, and did not play for Yorkshire in 1948.
In 1949, Smithson was part of Yardley's side that won the County Championship
for the fourth successive time since the post-war resumption of first-class cricket
, this time sharing the title with Middlesex
. His last recorded appearance for Yorkshire was a match against Scotland at Edinburgh
in July 1950.
In 1951 he joined Leicestershire, with whom he remained until the close of the 1956 season. His best season there was in 1952, when he hit 1,264 runs, (including two centuries) averaging 28.08. His last first-class match was for Leicestershire against Northamtonshire
at the County Ground
, Northampton
, in August 1956.
After his professional playing career ended, Smithson served as a professional cricket coach and groundsman
, first at Caterham School
, Surrey
, and then at Abingdon School
, Oxfordshire
. The Gerald Smithson Memorial Twenty20 Cricket Tournament was inaugurated at Abingdon School on 21 June 2009, with former England cricketer Devon Malcolm
the guest of honour. The 2010 tournament took place on 27 June.
Smithson's photograph appeared twice in Wisden
; once in 1948 on page 38, and once as the frontispiece to the 1971 edition.
He married Anne Salter at St Peter's Church, Earley
, Berkshire
, in 1954. Together they had four daughters; Jacqueline (born 1956), Gillian (1958), Joanne (1964) and Justine (1966).
Gerald Smithson died suddenly in Abingdon, Oxfordshire
in September 1970, at the age of 43.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
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, who played for Yorkshire
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....
between 1946 and 1949, his highest innings for the county being 169 against Leicestershire
Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland....
at Grace Road
Grace Road
Grace Road is a cricket ground, in Leicester, England, home to Leicestershire County Cricket Club.-History:The land which Grace Road is built on was bought by Leicestershire County Cricket Club in 1877 from the then Duke of Rutland and spent the massive sum of £40,000 on developing a cricket club,...
, Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
in 1947. He represented England on the Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
(MCC) tour of the West Indies in 1947-48. Smithson later played for Leicestershire between 1951 and 1956, and assisted Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire County Cricket Club
Hertfordshire County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Hertfordshire and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy...
between 1957 and 1962.
Life and career
Smithson was born in Spofforth, North Yorkshire.Perhaps Smithson's most famous innings was the 98 he scored for Yorkshire in the Roses Match
Roses Match
The Roses Match refers to any game of cricket played between Yorkshire County Cricket Club and Lancashire County Cricket Club. Yorkshire's emblem is the white rose, while Lancashire's is the red rose. The associations go back to the Wars of the Roses in the 15th century...
of 1947 against Lancashire
Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...
when he was aged 20, and which has been described in the writings of broadcaster and journalist Michael Parkinson
Michael Parkinson
Sir Michael Parkinson, CBE is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his interview programme, Parkinson, from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007.- Early life :...
(Parkinson's Lore, London: Pavilion, 1981). According to the then Yorkshire captain
Captain (cricket)
The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player...
, Norman Yardley
Norman Yardley
Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,...
, his batting invited comparison with the young Australians of the time. Historian Allan Hill called him a stylist of the David Gower
David Gower
David Ivon Gower OBE is a former English cricketer who became a commentator for Sky Sports. Although he eventually rose to the captaincy of the England cricket team during the 1980s, he is best known for being one of the most stylish left-handed batsmen of the modern era. Gower played 117 Test...
school, and wrote that this particular innings "aroused hopes of an exciting future".
Conscripted into National Service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
as a Bevin Boy in the coal mines after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he worked at Askern
Askern
Askern is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, in South Yorkshire, England. It is on the A19 road between Doncaster and Selby. It became a spa town in the late 19th century, but this stopped once coal mines opened in the town. The last mine closed in the 1990s...
Colliery in South Yorkshire, before receiving special permission (after his case had been debated in the House of Commons) to tour the West Indies with the MCC team of 1947-48. Smithson he took part in two Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
matches in the Kensington Oval
Kensington Oval
The Kensington Oval is located to the west of the capital-city Bridgetown on the island of Barbados. "The Oval" is one of the major sporting facilities on the island and is primarily used for cricket...
in Bridgetown
Bridgetown
The city of Bridgetown , metropolitan pop 96,578 , is the capital and largest city of the nation of Barbados. Formerly, the Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the parish of Saint Michael...
, Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
and the Queen's Park Oval
Queen's Park Oval
Queen's Park Oval, in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, is currently the largest capacity cricket ground in the West Indies and has hosted more Test matches than any other ground in the Caribbean. It also hosted a number of matches in the 2007 Cricket World Cup. It is privately owned by the...
in Port of Spain
Port of Spain
Port of Spain, also written as Port-of-Spain, is the capital of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the country's third-largest municipality, after San Fernando and Chaguanas. The city has a municipal population of 49,031 , a metropolitan population of 128,026 and a transient daily population...
, Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
- where the West Indies trio of Frank Worrell
Frank Worrell
Sir Frank Mortimer Maglinne Worrell is sometimes referred to by his nickname of Tae and was a West Indies cricketer and Jamaican senator...
, Clyde Walcott
Clyde Walcott
Sir Clyde Leopold Walcott, KA, GCM was a West Indian cricketer. Walcott was a member of the "three W's", the other two being Everton Weekes and Frank Worrell: all were very successful batsmen from Barbados, born within a short distance of each other in Bridgetown, Barbados in a period of 18...
and Everton Weekes
Everton Weekes
Sir Everton DeCourcy Weekes, KCMG, GCM, OBE is a leading former West Indian cricketer. Along with Frank Worrell and Clyde Walcott, he formed what was known as "The Three Ws" of West Indian cricket.-Youth and early career:...
first appeared together. He was injured on the tour, and did not play for Yorkshire in 1948.
In 1949, Smithson was part of Yardley's side that won the County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
for the fourth successive time since the post-war resumption of first-class cricket
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
, this time sharing the title with Middlesex
Middlesex County Cricket Club
Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...
. His last recorded appearance for Yorkshire was a match against Scotland at Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
in July 1950.
In 1951 he joined Leicestershire, with whom he remained until the close of the 1956 season. His best season there was in 1952, when he hit 1,264 runs, (including two centuries) averaging 28.08. His last first-class match was for Leicestershire against Northamtonshire
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Northamptonshire. Its limited overs team is called the Northants Steelbacks. The traditional club colour is Maroon. During the...
at the County Ground
County Cricket Ground, Northampton
The County Ground, is a cricket venue on Wantage Road in the Abington area of Northampton, UK. It is home to Northamptonshire County Cricket Club....
, Northampton
Northampton
Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
, in August 1956.
After his professional playing career ended, Smithson served as a professional cricket coach and groundsman
Groundskeeping
Groundskeeping is the activity of tending an area of land for aesthetic or functional purposes; typically in an institutional setting. It includes mowing grass, trimming hedges, pulling weeds, planting flowers, etc. The U.S. Department of Labor estimated that more than 900,000 workers are employed...
, first at Caterham School
Caterham School
Caterham School is an independent coeducational day and boarding school in Caterham, Surrey and a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.-History:...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, and then at Abingdon School
Abingdon School
Abingdon School is a British day and boarding independent school for boys situated in Abingdon, Oxfordshire , previously known as Roysse's School. In 1998 a formal merger took place between Abingdon School and Josca's, a preparatory school four miles to the west at Frilford...
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
. The Gerald Smithson Memorial Twenty20 Cricket Tournament was inaugurated at Abingdon School on 21 June 2009, with former England cricketer Devon Malcolm
Devon Malcolm
Devon Malcolm is a former English cricketer.Malcolm was one of England's few genuinely fast bowlers of the 1990s. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, he settled in England, making his first-class debut for Derbyshire in 1984, and qualifying to play for England in 1987...
the guest of honour. The 2010 tournament took place on 27 June.
Smithson's photograph appeared twice in Wisden
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...
; once in 1948 on page 38, and once as the frontispiece to the 1971 edition.
He married Anne Salter at St Peter's Church, Earley
Earley
Earley is a town and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire. The Office for National Statistics places Earley within the Reading/Wokingham Urban Area, for purposes of local government it falls within the Borough of Wokingham, outside of the jurisdiction of Reading Borough Council. The name...
, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
, in 1954. Together they had four daughters; Jacqueline (born 1956), Gillian (1958), Joanne (1964) and Justine (1966).
Gerald Smithson died suddenly in Abingdon, Oxfordshire
Abingdon, Oxfordshire
Abingdon or archaically Abingdon-on-Thames is a market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England. It is the seat of the Vale of White Horse district. Previously the county town of Berkshire, Abingdon is one of several places that claim to be Britain's oldest continuously occupied town, with...
in September 1970, at the age of 43.