Ian David Stockley Smith (born 28 February 1957) is a New Zealand cricket commentator and former

cricket 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 ...

er. He played as 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. Th ...

for

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 count ...

throughout the 1980s and part of the 1990s.

Early life

Ian Smith was born in Nelson, New Zealand to a family of keen golfers. They moved to

Wanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...

when he was one and then to

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

when he was eight years old. It was here where Smith first played cricket at the Miramar Park Cricket Club. He was initially an

off spin Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right arm, right-handed spin bowling, spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal Delivery (cr ...

ner who "batted a bit". He was a member of the Wellington Primary Schools' team and was selected for the North Island Primary Schools' team and captained the North Island under-12 soccer team in 1969. In his high school years he moved to

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

and concentrated on playing as a

. In 1978, he played as a substitute fielder for New Zealand in their Test match against Pakistan in Napier and was delighted to be paid NZ$100. His car broke down after the game; the repairs cost NZ$99.95.

Domestic career

Ian Smith first played for Central Districts in 1978 against the touring English team. In his fourth game for

Central Districts The Central Stags, formerly known as Central Districts, are a first-class cricket team based in central New Zealand. They are the men's representative side of the Central Districts Cricket Association. They compete in the Plunket Shield firs ...

against

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

, he was knocked unconscious by a short delivery bowled by

Richard Hadlee Sir Richard John Hadlee (born 3 July 1951) is a New Zealand former cricketer. Hadlee is widely regarded as one of the greatest all-rounders in cricket history, and amongst the very finest fast bowlers. Hadlee was appointed an MBE in the 1980 ...

. Smith went off injured but returned the following day to make 60 runs. He had a particularly good season batting in 1982/3 for Central Districts, scoring three centuries (145 against Auckland, 111 and 143 against Northern Districts).

International career

Ian Smith first was first selected to play for New Zealand in 1980 on their Australian tour after having played for the Young New Zealand team. His first game for New Zealand was against a Victorian Country XI. He was not included in the test eleven for the first test in Brisbane at the 'Gabba but when

Warren Lees Warren Kenneth Lees (born 19 March 1952) is a New Zealand cricketer and coach (sport), coach. He played 21 Test and 31 ODIs from 1976 to 1983 as a wicket-keeper batsman. He was coach of the Black Caps from 1990 to 1993. Domestic career He ...

failed a fitness test on the first morning, Smith was elevated into the test team. Smith has one of the highest ever strike rates as a batsman for

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

s – 99 runs per 100 balls faced. He also holds the record for the highest score in Tests for a batsman coming in at number nine, which is 173 off 136 balls, scored against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Eden Park Eden Park is New Zealand's largest sports stadium, with a capacity of 50,000. Located in central Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, it is three kilometres southwest of the CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and King ...

in 1990. During the innings, he became joint holder of the record for most runs scored off a six-ball Test over, striking 24 runs off

Atul Wassan Atul Satish Wassan (born 23 March 1968) is a former Indian cricket 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 t ...

After cricket

After Smith retired from cricket, he worked in the banking industry before moving into broadcasting. He worked as a radio announcer on

Radio Live Radio Live (stylised as Radio LIVE) was a nationwide Auckland-based New Zealand talkback, news and sport radio network owned and operated by MediaWorks New Zealand. It was formed by the 2005 split of talk and racing network Radio Pacific i ...

SPORT as a breakfast host and is also a commentator for SKY Sport (in

, commentating on both

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

and

). As a cricket commentator he has also worked on television commentary at numerous ICC tournaments including the

World Twenty20 The ICC Men's T20 World Cup (earlier known as ICC World Twenty20) is the international championship of Twenty20. Organised by cricket's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), the tournament consists of 16 teams, comprising t ...

and

Cricket World Cup The Cricket World Cup (officially known as ICC Men's Cricket World Cup) is the international championship of One Day International (ODI) cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), e ...

calling the crucial final ball as England tied with New Zealand in the final at Lords. Smith's description of England winning the World Cup “by the barest of margins, the barest of all margins” has become iconic in English cricket. He has also appeared as a guest commentator on

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

and

Test Match Special ''Test Match Special'' (also known as ''TMS'') is a British sports radio programme, originally, as its name implies, dealing exclusively with Test cricket matches, but currently covering any professional cricket. It broadcasts on BBC Radio 4 LW ( ...

in the UK during New Zealand tours of England. He's also used for some of the Australian cricket coverage for

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

and now

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

but doesn't appear on

Spark Sport Spark New Zealand Limited is a New Zealand telecommunications company providing fixed-line telephone services, a mobile phone network, internet access services, and (through its Spark Digital division) ICT services to businesses. It was know ...

's coverage for home matches. Smith took an active role in presenting the

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

on Sky in New Zealand. In April 2020, Smith won New Zealand Cricket's most prestigious award, the Bert Sutcliffe Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Cricket. His son

Jarrod Smith Jarrod Brian Stockley Smith (born 20 July 1984) is a New Zealand professional footballer who currently plays for Team Wellington. Career College Smith moved to the United States after he was recruited by and played three seasons for former W ...

is an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who has appeared for the New Zealand national team.

Honours and awards

In the 1994 New Year Honours, Smith was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, for services to cricket. In April 2020, he was awarded the Bert Sutcliffe Medal by

New Zealand Cricket New Zealand Cricket, formerly the New Zealand Cricket Council, is the governing body for professional cricket in New Zealand. Cricket is the most popular and highest profile summer sport in New Zealand. New Zealand Cricket operates the New Z ...

for outstanding services to cricket.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Ian 1957 births Living people Auckland cricketers Central Districts cricketers New Zealand One Day International cricketers New Zealand Test cricket captains Cricketers at the 1983 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1987 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1992 Cricket World Cup New Zealand cricket commentators New Zealand rugby union commentators People educated at Palmerston North Boys' High School New Zealand Members of the Order of the British Empire Cricketers from Nelson, New Zealand North Island cricketers Wicket-keepers