In 1989, when England were a pitiful rabble in the face of Australia, Smith stood up taller than any other batsman to make two more hundreds. Australia did not have a spinner of much note on that tour; but they did on their next in 1993 (Shane Warne) and Smith’s batting gradually tailed off.
Those mighty forearms were not so much use when it came to defending against Warne, Anil Kumble and Mushtaq Ahmed. Smith did make a hundred in the Colombo Test of 1993, but he was pushed up to open and avoid the worst of Muttiah Muralitharan and Sri Lanka’s other spinners. Bowling machines, when he was a teenager, could not replicate spin as they do now.
Rather prematurely, Smith was abandoned after England’s 1995-96 tour of South Africa. He went on to do fine and conscientious service as the captain of Hampshire from 1998 to 2002, and already had his medals for winning cup finals for his county at Lord’s.
He will be fondly remembered, for his supreme, pugilistic bravery against fast bowling and for his human frailties, but above all perhaps for an innings of 167 not out against Australia in 1993, the highest for England in limited-overs cricket until that point.
In a one-day international of 55 overs per side at Edgbaston he made his runs off 163 balls, in the days when batting at a run a ball was rare. No Shane Warne to face in that game, only the off-spinner Tim May. England still lost, as they were wont to do in those days against Australia, but never for want of Smith’s trying.
