Horace Dennis Smith (8 January 1913 – 25 January 1986) was a New Zealand

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 who played in one

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

in 1933.Dennis Smith
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2022-10-12.

Life and career

Dennis Smith was born in

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 C ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, where he lived until he was 12, when he enrolled at

Geelong Grammar School , motto_translation = 1 Corinthians 1:30: "For us, Christ was made wisdom"( 1 Corinthians 1:30: Christ, who has been made for us in wisdom) , city = Corio, Victoria , country = Australia , coordinates = , ...

. He studied there from 1925 to 1929, excelling in sport. He won the award for the best

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...

in the Melbourne public schools cricket competition in 1929. He moved to

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

in 1930. In club cricket in Dunedin, Smith played as a batsman who bowled occasionally, but for

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

he played as an all-rounder who bowled fast-medium and batted in the middle order. He made his debut for Otago in 1931–32 at the age of 18. In the three matches in the

Plunket Shield New Zealand has had a domestic first-class cricket championship since the 1906–07 season. Since the 2009–10 season it has been known by its original name of the Plunket Shield. History The Plunket Shield competition was instigated in Octob ...

in 1932-33 he scored 147 runs at 36.75, with a top score of 52, and took seven wickets at 14.00, helping Otago to win the Plunket Shield. A few weeks after the Plunket Shield season finished, Smith opened the New Zealand attack in the First Test against

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 ...

with his Otago colleague

Ted Badcock Frederick Theodore Badcock (9 August 1897 – 19 September 1982) was a New Zealand first-class and Test cricketer. Perhaps the best all-rounder in New Zealand in the inter-war period, he played seven Test matches for New Zealand between 1930 a ...

. He took his only Test wicket with his first delivery when he bowled

Eddie Paynter Edward Paynter (5 November 1901 – 5 February 1979) was an English cricketer: an attacking batsman and excellent fielder. His Test batting average of 59.23 is the seventh highest of all time, and second only to Herbert Sutcliffe amongst Englis ...

; he was the tenth player to achieve the feat. He sent down another 119 deliveries without success. He was replaced by another Otago colleague,

Jack Dunning John Angus Dunning (6 February 1903 – 24 June 1971) was a New Zealand cricketer who played in four Test matches between 1933 and 1937 and 60 first-class matches from 1923 to 1938. He later became a headmaster in Australia.

, for the Second Test, when he served as twelfth man. He moved to

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

in September 1933 to work for the importing and exporting firm A. M. Satterthwaite and Co. He played for

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. ...

in the 1933–34 season but was less effective than he had been for Otago, and he played his last first-class match not long after he turned 21. However, he was one of the leading batsmen in Christchurch senior club cricket in 1933–34, scoring 507 runs at an average of 84.50 with three centuries, helping his team West Christchurch to the championship. Smith became general manager of A. M. Satterthwaite and Co, and was appointed managing director in 1954.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Dennis 1913 births 1986 deaths Cricketers from Toowoomba People educated at Geelong Grammar School Australian emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand Test cricketers New Zealand cricketers Canterbury cricketers Otago cricketers New Zealand chief executives

Life and career

See also

References

External links