Harry Ernest Smith (21 April 1884 – 25 April 1935) was a

cricketer Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

who played

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 ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

from 1905 to 1908. He toured England with the South Africans in 1907 but did not play

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 fo ...

Personal life

Harry Smith's father, James, had two sons with his first wife. After she died he married again, and had five children with his second wife, of whom Harry was the first. The first son of the first marriage,

Charlie Charlie may refer to: Characters * "Charlie," the head of the Townsend Agency', from the ''Charlie's Angels'' franchise * Charlie, a character on signs for the CharlieCard, a smart card issued by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority * ...

, went on to play Test cricket for

. Harry married Olive Thomson in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

in April 1914, and they lived in Boksburg until they divorced in 1921. They had no children. Harry worked for some time as a hotel clerk in Boksburg, and at the time of his death from heart failure in 1935 he was working as a

timekeeper A timekeeper is an instrument or person that measures the passage of time. Person A timekeeper is a person who measures time with the assistance of a clock or a stopwatch. In addition, a timekeeper records time, time taken, or time remaining duri ...

for a local mining company.

Cricket career

Smith made his first-class debut in 1905-06 for

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

against the touring MCC, batting at number ten and scoring 0 and 27. In 1906-07, when Transvaal won the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

, he played in two of their games, scoring 27 in the first against Western Province, batting at number nine, and 53 against Eastern Province, batting at number seven, Transvaal won each time by an innings. At the end of the season, after four first-class matches, with 138 runs at an average of 23.00, he was selected among the 15 players – eight of them from Transvaal – to tour the British Isles in 1907. Of the 27 first-class matches the South Africans played on the tour Smith played only 11, batting low in the order as usual and scoring 183 runs at an average of 14.07. His top score was 40 not out, when he added 67 for the last wicket with Cyril Robinson against

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 ...

. However, with 83 at number ten he was the top scorer for either side in the victory in the non-first-class match against Durham. After the tour, Smith played only one more first-class match. In 1908-09 he represented the Wanderers Cricket Club of Johannesburg against a team from the rest of South Africa in a match held to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the formation of the Wanderers club. Batting unusually high in the order, he made 45 at number three in the first innings and 29 opening in the second.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Harry 1884 births 1935 deaths Cape Colony cricketers Gauteng cricketers South African cricketers People from Cradock, Eastern Cape