Alan Christopher Smith (born 25 October 1936), often known as A. C. Smith, is an English former

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last f ...

er, who appeared in six Tests matches for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. Primarily a

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. ...

, Smith was also a capable right-handed middle-order batsman and right-arm seam bowler. Very unusually for a regular wicket-keeper, he was sometimes selected by Warwickshire as a frontline bowler. He was the last amateur to play for England, before the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influe ...

(MCC) abolished such a status.

Life and career

Educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham and

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the m ...

, Smith scored his maiden first-class century (106, opening the batting) for

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

against the

(MCC) in 1958. He won

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...

1957–1960, and captained Oxford University 1959–1960. Against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

in 1959, Smith captained Oxford, kept wicket and scored centuries in both innings (145 and 124). Against the

Free Foresters Free Foresters Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club, established in 1856 for players from the Midland counties of England. It is a 'wandering' (or nomadic) club, having no home ground. The Free Foresters were founded by the Rev. Wil ...

in 1960, Charles Fry's deputising as wicket-keeper allowed Smith to bowl himself; having never previously taken more than a single first-class wicket in an innings, he claimed figures of 5–32 and 4–45. With

Jim Parks, Jr. James Michael Parks (21 October 1931 – 31 May 2022) was an English cricketer. He played in forty-six Test cricket, Tests for England cricket team, England, between 1954 and 1968. In those Tests, Parks scored 1,962 runs with a personal best o ...

incumbent as England's wicket-keeper, Smith's international opportunities were limited to one tour of Australia and New Zealand under the captaincy of Ted Dexter in 1962–63. Smith failed with the bat in his four Tests against Australia; his score of 69 not out from number 10 in the first Test against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

, sharing a vital unbroken 163-run partnership with

Colin Cowdrey Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, (24 December 19324 December 2000) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Oxford University (1952–1954), Kent County Cricket Club (1950–1976) and England (1954–1975). Univers ...

to set up an innings victory, was his only batting contribution of note. He succeeded

M. J. K. Smith Michael John Knight Smith , better known as M. J. K. Smith or Mike Smith, (born 30 June 1933) is an English former cricketer who was captain of Oxford University Cricket Club (1956), Warwickshire County Cricket Club (1957–1967) and ...

, to whom he was unrelated, as county captain of

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avo ...

in 1965, retaining the post until his retirement at the end of the 1974 season. Against

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

in 1965 he achieved the very rare feat of taking a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three w ...

as bowler in a first-class match in which he had been selected as a wicket-keeper. As the West Indian wicket-keeper

Deryck Murray Deryck Lance Murray (born 20 May 1943) is a former West Indies cricketer. A wicketkeeper and right-handed batsman, Murray kept wicket to the West Indian fast bowling attacks of the 1970s (including Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner an ...

played for Warwickshire from 1972 onwards, Smith was seldom required to keep, and was hence able to bowl increasingly regularly towards the end of his career; in 1972 he took 5–47 against

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Mot ...

and 5–19 in a 40-over match against

Northants Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is kn ...

. On one occasion, Smith was a member of a Warwickshire team which boasted three international wicket-keepers, none of whom were keeping wicket:

was injured,

Rohan Kanhai Rohan Babulal Kanhai (born 26 December 1935) is a Guyanese former cricketer of Tamil Indo-Guyanese origin , who represented the West Indies in 79 Test matches. He is widely considered to be one of the best batsmen of the 1960s. Kanhai fea ...

had given up keeping, and Smith had been selected for his bowling, leaving occasional wicket-keeper John Jameson behind the stumps.Australia v England, Champions Trophy SF 2009, Commentary
/ref> After retirement he became a leading figure in the game's organisation including spells as Secretary of Warwickshire County Cricket Club (1976–1986), as an England selector and Chief Executive of the

Test and County Cricket Board The Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB) was the governing body for Test and county cricket in Great Britain between 1968 and 1996. The TCCB was established in 1968 to replace the functions of the Board of Control for Test Matches (established ...

(1986–1996).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Alan 1936 births Living people Cricketers from Birmingham, West Midlands England Test cricketers English cricketers Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Secretaries of Warwickshire County Cricket Club Warwickshire cricket captains Warwickshire cricketers Oxford University cricketers English cricket administrators Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford People educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham England cricket team selectors Gentlemen cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers English cricketers of 1946 to 1968 English cricketers of 1969 to 2000 Marylebone Cricket Club Australian Touring Team cricketers