Neil Smith (1 April 1949 – 4 March 2003) was an English

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 eight First-Class 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 ...

in 1970 and 1971, before moving to

Essex Essex () is a 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 River Thames to the south, and G ...

where he enjoyed a successful county career until 1981. He also played for

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

in the

Minor Counties The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

, appearing in occasional List A one day games for them in 1988 and 1989.

Early life and career

Born at

Ossett Ossett is a market town in the City of Wakefield metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated between Dewsbury, Horbury and Wakefield. At the 2011 Census, the population was ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

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 b ...

, Smith had hopes of replacing the long-serving

Jimmy Binks James Graham Binks (born 5 October 1935) is a former English cricketer who played as a wicket-keeper for Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Yorkshire. Although he was regarded by many as the best wicket-keeper of his generation, his limited batting ...

behind the stumps for Yorkshire, but found his place taken by the then 18-year-old,

David Bairstow David Leslie Bairstow (1 September 1951 – 5 January 1998) was an English cricketer, who played for Yorkshire and England as a wicket-keeper. He also played football for his hometown club Bradford City. He is the father of England internation ...

. Smith moved to Essex instead to replace Brian Taylor, and established himself in the side in 1973. He had a good pair of hands and, although not at first sight the most nimble of movers, was a key part of the first Essex side to win a trophy. He lost his place in 1981 to David East, captained the Essex Second XI for a season, and then returned to Yorkshire for a business career. In 187 first-class matches, he took 395 catches and 51

stumping Stumped is a method of dismissing a batsman in cricket, which involves the wicket-keeper putting down the wicket while the batsman is out of his ground. (The batsman leaves his ground when he has moved down the pitch beyond the popping crease ...

s, and scored 3,336 runs as a pugnacious right-handed batsman. In 171 one-day games, he took 124 catches and 23 stumpings, and scored 851 runs at 10.50, occasionally used as a

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute Batting (baseball), batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the dead ball (baseball), ball is dead (not in active play); the manager (baseball), manager may use any player who has not yet ...

up the batting order. Smith died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

at age 53 in March 2003, at

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Hudder ...

References

External links

Cricinfo Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Neil 1949 births 2003 deaths Yorkshire cricketers People from Ossett Sportspeople from the City of Wakefield Cricketers from West Yorkshire Essex cricketers Minor Counties cricketers Cheshire cricketers English cricketers Deaths from cancer in England D. H. Robins' XI cricketers Wicket-keepers