Ernest Smith (19 October 1869 – 9 April 1945) was an English

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

er, who played twenty one games 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 ...

from 1888 to 1891, 154 matches for

Yorkshire County Cricket Club Yorkshire County Cricket Club is one of 18 first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Yorkshire. Yorkshire are the most successful team in English cricketing hi ...

from 1888 to 1907, and four for 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 influence ...

(MCC) from 1892 to 1902. Smith was born in

Morley Morley may refer to: Places England * Morley, Norfolk, a civil parish * Morley, Derbyshire, a civil parish * Morley, Cheshire, a village * Morley, County Durham, a village * Morley, West Yorkshire, a suburban town of Leeds and civil parish * M ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

, and educated at

Clifton College ''The spirit nourishes within'' , established = 160 years ago , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent boarding and day school , religion = Christian , president = , head_label = Head of College , head ...

and

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the univer ...

. In a first-class career that lasted from 1888, when he was 18, till 1928, when he was 58, he also played cricket for Oxford and Cambridge Universities Past and Present (1890), fifteen matches for The Gentlemen (1891–1906), North of England (1891–1908), Gentlemen of England (1891–1910) and C. I. Thornton's XI (1892–1899) and, among other teams, twenty-seven games for H. D. G. Leveson-Gower's XI (1909–1928). In 242 first-class matches, Smith scored 7,686 runs at 21.46, with a highest score of 164 not out for H. D. G. Leveson-Gower's XI against

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in 1912. In 1891 he scored 154 for North against South, he and

Charles de Trafford Charles Edmund de Trafford (21 May 1864 – 11 November 1951) was an English aristocrat and a first-class cricketer. Early life Charles de Trafford was born at Trafford Hall, Trafford Park, Stretford, the second son of Sir Humphrey de Traffor ...

adding 254 in 105 minutes. A right-arm fast bowler, Smith took 454 wickets at 25.69, with a best return of 7 for 40 for Yorkshire against MCC in 1893. For Oxford University in 1890 he took 13 for 146 in the match against Lancashire. Standing six feet one inch tall, he was also a good fieldsman. Smith was a schoolteacher who played most of his cricket during the summer school holidays. In 1958

A. A. Thomson Arthur Alexander Thomson, (7 April 1894 at Harrogate, Yorkshire – 2 June 1968 near Lord's in London) was an English writer best known for his books on cricket, for which he used the byline A. A. Thomson. He wrote nearly 60 books in all, inclu ...

said of him: "Ernest was one of that devoted band of August schoolmasters – happily they survive to-day – who pack their boys off home and add a kind of academic gaiety to the month's cricket." He added that Smith could "defend like a lowered

portcullis A portcullis (from Old French ''porte coleice'', "sliding gate") is a heavy vertically-closing gate typically found in medieval fortifications, consisting of a latticed grille made of wood, metal, or a combination of the two, which slides down gr ...

if Yorkshire were in serious trouble" or bat "like a charging cavalry leader". Smith died in April 1945 in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

. His brother, A. E. Smith, played one first-class game for the "English Residents" in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

in 1890.

References

External links

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Cricinfo Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Ernest 1869 births 1945 deaths Yorkshire cricketers Cricketers from Morley, West Yorkshire Oxford University cricketers English cricketers Harlequins cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Gentlemen cricketers North v South cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers People educated at Clifton College Alumni of University College, Oxford H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers C. I. Thornton's XI cricketers Over 30s v Under 30s cricketers Oxford and Cambridge Universities cricketers