Alan Smith

In the second edition of David Walsh's excellent Hall of Fame series, David discusses the career of Alan Smith. If you have any suggestions for the next edition of the Hall of Fame, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Alan Smith had the distinction of not only being Captain of OUCC for two years in 1959 and 1960 but also leading arguably the most successful Oxford teams of the post-1945 era. In 1959 they not only beat Cambridge by 85 runs, the first win for eight years, but had six wins against other first-class opponents including Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire and Sussex. In 1960 they had much the better of a rain-ruined game against Cambridge, beat Essex, Derbyshire and Hampshire, and would have beaten a full-strength Lancashire by an innings if rain had not come to save the county. These were the last two great Oxford sides, in which games against first-class counties were entered with an equal chance of winning.

Smith (often known as AC to distinguish him from his Oxford and Warwickshire contemporary MJK) came to Brasenose from KES Birmingham and won his Blue in 1958 before his two years as captain. Wisden records about the 1959 season that ‘the great improvement in Oxford’s cricket was due in no small measure to the enthusiasm and ability of their captain, Alan Smith’. That year he made hundreds in each innings when opening the batting against Hampshire and he ended the season with 822 runs. His 68 catches and 12 stumpings in his Oxford career are also the most by any Oxford wicket-keeper. He even shed the gloves on occasions to bowl his fast-medium, taking nine wickets in the match against Free Foresters in 1960 with his highly unorthodox bowling action off the wrong foot.

In those two seasons Oxford benefited from a host of very talented players, and nine of the 1960 team played in the County Championship. Among the batsmen were the Pakistani Test player Javed Burki, the Lancashire opener David Green and the Hampshire batsman, Charles Fry, who all played in both years. Oxford also had a formidable pair of opening bowlers in David Sayer of Kent, who was genuinely fast, and Andrew Corran of Notts, who took 76 wickets over these two seasons, including 12 wickets in the 1960 Lord’s match. They were backed up by outstanding spinners in David Pithey, who subsequently played Test cricket for South Africa, Dan Piachaud of Hampshire and Alan Duff of Worcestershire.

Two particular stars stood out, however, and both came from India. Abbas Ali Baig came up as a freshman in 1959 and scored 1148 runs, including successive hundreds against Lancashire and Yorkshire. He then joined the Indian touring side and made 112 in the Fourth Test at Old Trafford. In 1960 the most exciting freshman was the Nawab of Pataudi, who had already played for Sussex as a schoolboy. Pataudi made three hundreds, emulating his father by making a century at Lord’s and later captaining his country, despite losing an eye in a motor accident just before the 1961 University match.

It was Alan Smith who knitted together this stellar company into such a successful team. He continued his success in County cricket with Warwickshire, captaining them from 1965-74. In 1965 against Essex, he achieved the very rare feat of taking a hat-trick as a bowler in amatch where he had been selected as wicket-keeper. He was in the last group of amateurs to play for England, winning six Test caps as wicket-keeper on the tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1962-63. After retirement he played a leading role in the administration of the game, as Secretary of Warwickshire, an England selector and Chief Executive of the Test and County Cricket Board from 1986-96, for which he was awarded the CBE in 1986. Former colleagues at Lord’s remember him as an enlightened but rigorous boss who was happy to delegate to those he trusted. Alan Smith belongs firmly in OUCC’s Hall of Fame for his enthusiastic leadership, his all-round cricketing talents and his lifetime of service to the game at county and national level.