Thomas Francis Smailes was born in Ripley near Harrogate on the 27 March 1910. He was hard hitting left handed batsman and a fine medium bowler who could open the bowling and then
turn to off breaks.
In 1938 his best season he took a hundred wickets and had taken10 wickets for 137 against the Australians at Sheffield for Yorkshire. So he was chosen for the Third Test Match at Old Trafford against Australia. Also chosen was Paul Gibb as wicket keeper.
Alas it rained hard for all four days and the final team was never chosen. Since England had 13 present no caps were given.
During the War he served as a captain in the Royal Artillery and played some cricket at Lord's.
Most of the time he served abroad and it was he who traced Hedley Verity's grave in Italy and arranged that appropriate stone should be set up.
He was not at his best after the War but was chosen to play against India at Lords. H e scored 25 in his only innings. In the Indian first innings he took 0 for 18 in five overs he was given. In the second in 15 overs, he took 3 for 44.His wickets were Mankad, Armarnath and Modi . However he was not
chosen for the next Test. Pollard aged 34 and Voce aged 37 were brought in.
His last season was in 1948 and was a member of seven championship sides.His first class record was 5892 runs including 3 centuries, 822 wickets and 154 catches
Another cricketer that the War affected his cricket but he had one Test cap to show for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment