Razor Smith
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| Batting style | Right-handed batsman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling style | Right-arm off-break | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source: CricketArchive | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
For the American architect and Confederate veteran, see William Crawford Smith.
Razor Smith (William Charles Smith; 4 October 1877, Oxford, Oxfordshire – 15 July 1946, Bermondsey, London) was a Surrey slow bowler. Nicknamed "Razor" because of his extreme thinness, Smith was prone to serious injury and could rarely get through a full season's cricket, but when sound, could command the sharpest off-break among bowlers of his day. He was also able to bowl a somewhat faster ball with a very high flight that turned a little from leg and, with any help from the pitch, would get up almost straight.
This combination meant that when wickets were treacherous Smith generally proved deadly, but in less favourable conditions he was rarely effective and his slight build meant he was unsuited to large amounts of work as a "stock" bowler even though he had the extreme accuracy required. Consequently, he never came into consideration for Test selection, though he showed great ability on many occasions against the very best batting sides.
Smith was discovered by the great W.G. Grace in the late 1890s and recommended immediately to Surrey, where he had already taken up residence. He took 5 for 50 against a weak Derbyshire side on his County Championship debut in 1900, but played little first-class cricket until 1904. He proved unplayable on wet wickets early in the season, but did nothing when the weather turned dry and was quickly dropped until the last two games. Still, Smith was third in the first-class averages in his first full season. In 1905, he first came to the public eye with a surprising performance against the Australians on a dry pitch at the Oval, in which his fine off-break made him for a time irresistible, and an amazing 7 for 11 against Northamptonshire on a really sticky pitch.
Between 1906 and 1908, Smith was in and out of the Surrey team, but he still headed the averages in 1908 with 58 wickets for just over 14 each. However, it was in 1909 that "Razor" became one of the leading bowlers of the day - despite injuries again keeping him out of many games. He took 95 wickets for under 13 runs each in a wet summer, and his dismissal of Yorkshire for 26 caused a sensation.
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