Gregory Marc Smith (born 20 April 1983) is a British-South African former

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler who formerly played for

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. He had previously played for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

for eight years. Since retiring he has moved to Cornwall where he captains and coaches Penzance. In his first year they struggled to find form and lost to Helston 3 times in a season. Smith was born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

. His international cricketing career began when he played in the Under-19 World Cup competition of 2002 for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, debuting with a steady bowling performance against

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

in a convincing victory for his side. South Africa were to make it to the final of the competition, in which Smith scored a half-century from the number one batting position, though it was not enough to see his team win the match, as this was countered by a century by New South Wales' Under-19

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

representative Jarrad Burke. Smith made his first appearance in first-class cricket in October 2003, playing for

Griqualand West Griqualand West is an area of central South Africa with an area of 40,000 km2 that now forms part of the Northern Cape Province. It was inhabited by the Griqua people – a semi-nomadic, Afrikaans-speaking nation of mixed-race origin, w ...

in the 2003–04 SuperSport series, in which the team finished in second place in the league. Smith would make one half-century during 2003–04, against Boland, and left the team in the summer of 2004. Desperate for a County Championship place at a burgeoning team, Smith joined Derbyshire and made his debut Second XI Championship appearance in the same period, in July 2004. However, having scored a duck, he was not to appear again for the side until the 2005 season, where he played in both the Second XI Championship and Trophy. Smith made his debut in the County Championship in the 2006 season, scoring steadily with the bat from the middle order and even trying his hand at bowling during the second innings. As Derbyshire finished mid-table during 2006, Smith stepped in for more appearances for the side, and looked promising for the team's future. In

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, Smith scored the 20th century in the history of the

Twenty20 Cup The T20 Blast, officially known as the Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in England and Wales. The competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003. T20 Blast is ...

with a 62-ball innings against

Yorkshire Carnegie Leeds Tykes (formerly Leeds RUFC, Leeds Carnegie and Yorkshire Carnegie) is an English rugby union club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the National League 2 North. The club was founded as Headingley FC, but renamed in 1991 whe ...

on 12 June 2008. He ended on exactly 100

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

, in a winning performance for Derbyshire. This, as well as other strong performances, led to him being awarded a new contract which will keep him at Derbyshire for a further two years. He has completed his residency period and is looking to qualify as an English player, following a similar path to that of

Kevin Pietersen Kevin Peter Pietersen (born 27 June 1980) is a former England international cricketer. He is regarded as one of the greatest England batsmen to have played the game, and renowned for his competitive, and often controversial nature. He was a ri ...

, for example, but in the meantime plays as a Kolpak player. During the 2011 season, it was announced that he would leave

at the end of the season, and in September 2011, he was signed by

on a two-year deal, up to the end of the 2013 season. Although continuing with the club after his initial contract ended, he was one of four players released by Essex at the end of the 2015 season. In February 2016 he announced his retirement from first-class cricket, having taken a job as Director of Cricket Development and Head Coach for

Penzance Penzance ( ; ) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is the westernmost major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated in the ...

Cricket Club.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Greg 1983 births Living people Derbyshire cricket captains Griqualand West cricketers South African cricket captains South African cricketers 21st-century South African sportsmen English cricketers Essex cricketers Cricketers from Johannesburg Cornwall cricketers South African emigrants to the United Kingdom South African expatriate sportspeople in England