Kelly Royce Smuts (born 22 January 1990) is a South African

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 is a left-handed batsman and right-arm medium-pace bowler who plays for Eastern Province. He was born in

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London, Eastern Cape, East London. Makhanda is the lar ...

. Smuts made his cricketing debut for South Africa Under-19s, playing a single Under-19 Test match against Bangladesh. He later played two matches in a Tri-Nation tournament, one against Bangladesh and one against India. Smuts made two appearances during the CSA Under-19 Competition in 2008–09. Smuts made his first-class debut for Eastern Province during the 2009–10 season, against

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

. He was included in the

Eastern Province cricket team Eastern Province cricket team was the former team that represented the Eastern Province in domestic first-class cricket in South Africa, alongside one-day matches. Eastern Province played first-class cricket from 1893–94 to 2004–05, when the ...

squad for the

2015 Africa T20 Cup The 2015 Africa T20 Cup was a Twenty20 cricket tournament held in South Africa from 4 September to 4 October 2015, as a curtain-raiser to the 2015–16 South African domestic season. Organized by Cricket South Africa, it featured thirteen South Af ...

. In the 2015–16

Sunfoil 3-Day Cup The CSA 4-Day Domestic Series is the domestic first class cricket competition of South Africa. The tournament is contested by teams from all nine provinces of South Africa. First contested as the Currie Cup from 1889–90, the tournament has u ...

, he became the first player to make a century and take 13 wickets during a first-class match in South Africa. In April 2017, he made the highest total in the history of the Lancashire League, scoring 211 for Todmorden Cricket Club. In August 2017, he was named in

Durban Qalandars The Mzansi Super League (MSL) was a Twenty20 cricket (T20) franchise league held in South Africa. The competition was established in 2018 by Cricket South Africa (CSA) as a replacement for the failed T20 Global League, but only two editions wer ...

' squad for the first season of the

T20 Global League The Mzansi Super League (MSL) was a Twenty20 cricket (T20) franchise league held in South Africa. The competition was established in 2018 by Cricket South Africa (CSA) as a replacement for the failed T20 Global League, but only two editions wer ...

. However, in October 2017,

Cricket South Africa Cricket South Africa (CSA) is the governing body for both professional and amateur cricket in South Africa. In 1991, the separate South African Cricket Union and the South African Cricket Board merged to form the United Cricket Board of South Afr ...

initially postponed the tournament until November 2018, with it being cancelled soon after. He was the leading run-scorer in the

2017–18 Sunfoil 3-Day Cup The 2017–18 Sunfoil 3-Day Cup was a first-class cricket competition that took place in South Africa from 12 October 2017 to 15 April 2018. The competition was played between the thirteen South African provincial teams and Namibia. Unlike its c ...

for Eastern Province, with 646 runs in eight matches. In September 2018, he was named in Eastern Province's squad for the

2018 Africa T20 Cup The 2018 Africa T20 Cup was the fourth and final edition of the Africa T20 Cup, a Twenty20 cricket tournament. It was held in South Africa in September 2018, as a curtain-raiser to the 2018–19 South African domestic season. Provincial side Kwa ...

. In September 2019, he was named in Eastern Province's squad for the

2019–20 CSA Provincial T20 Cup The 2019–20 CSA Provincial T20 Cup was a domestic Twenty cricket tournament that took place in South Africa in September 2019, as a curtain-raiser to the 2019–20 South African domestic season. It was played between the thirteen South Africa ...

. Smuts' brother,

JJ Smuts Jon-Jon Trevor Smuts (born 21 September 1988) is a South African cricketer who plays for the Warriors in the South African domestic competitions. He is a right-handed opening batsman and a slow left-arm bowler. In 2010 he was selected for the So ...

, is also a first-class cricketer.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smuts, Kelly 1990 births Living people South African cricketers Eastern Province cricketers Warriors cricketers People from Makhanda, Eastern Cape Cricketers from the Eastern Cape