Ben Smith (cricketer)
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Benjamin Francis Smith | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
3 April 1972 Corby, Northamptonshire, England |
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| Nickname | Chucker | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting style | Right-hand bat | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling style | Right-arm medium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Batsman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1990-2001 | Leicestershire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2000-2002 | Central Districts | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2002-2009 | Worcestershire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source: Cricket Archive, 25 August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Benjamin Francis Smith (born 3 April 1972) is an English cricketer: a right-handed batsman and occasional right-arm medium-pace bowler.
Smith played for the Leicestershire second team for a couple of years as a teenager before making his first-class debut in the 1990 season in a game against Oxford University; he was lbw for four in his only innings, but got another chance in a County Championship match against Glamorgan a fortnight later. He made 15 not out in the first innings before Leicestershire declared, and not batting at all in the second. He did not play another first-class game that season, though he did make a handful of appearances in the Refuge Assurance League.
Smith went on the 1990-91 Under-19 tour to New Zealand, and played in all five of their matches (two "ODIs" and three "Tests"). He made no real impression with the bat, with a top score of only 44, but had some success as a bowler, taking the wicket of future New Zealand senior team captain Stephen Fleming on three occasions in the "Tests". Back in England, he had a reasonable 1991 season, making 674 first-class runs at an average of 37.44, although the highest of his 23 innings was only 71.
Smith then went through a lean spell, and despite a maiden hundred against Durham in April 1992, the nadir came in the 1993 season when Smith averaged a low 14.61 in 18 first-class innings, being dismissed in single figures on 11 occasions and only once passing fifty. Some recovery followed as he averaged just over 30 in each of the following two years, but it was 1996 that saw him return to form with three centuries including 190 against Glamorgan in August, and passing a thousand runs in a first-class season for the first time, finishing with 1,243 at 47.80 and helping Leicestershire to their first County Championship since 1975.
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