Ed Smith was born on 19 July 1977 at Pembury in Kent. He was educated at Tonbridge School and Cambridge University where he picked up a double-first in history despite the amount of time he spent playing cricket for the university. He became the youngest ever Cambridge undergraduate (aged 18) to score a century on first-class debut – 101 against Glamorgan, at Fenner’s, in April 1996.
He is tall at 6 feet 2 inches and played for Cambridge University (1996-1998), Kent (1996-2004), Middlesex (2005-2008) and England (2003) as a right-hand bat. He was capped by Kent in 2001 and Middlesex in 2005 and captained them in 2007 and 2008. He played 191 first-class matches scoring 12,789 runs at 41.79 with 34 hundreds and 54 fifties with a best of 213. He played predominantly on the front-foot, with a liking for the drive.
In 2003 Smith made six centuries in as many games for Kent, including a then career-best of 203, and became the first batsman to record 1,000 runs for the season. This superb form demanded that he be selected for England. For the third Test against South Africa he became the 15th Smith to be picked for England. At that time England’s stock was low following Nasser Hussain’s resignation. However, Smith scored 64 in his maiden Test innings. Alas, he was out first ball in the second innings. After 3 Tests that Summer against South Africa he was dropped after scoring 87 runs in 5 innings.
In 2004 rumours circulated that he was an isolated figure in the Kent dressing room. It appeared that some senior players had become mutinous when Smith had acted as stand-in captain. It was therefore little surprise when he moved to Middlesex for the 2005 season. He had two solid seasons at Middlesex before being named captain for the 2007 season. He broke his ankle in a Twenty20 match in June 2008. After Middlesex stripped him of the captaincy he subsequently announced his retirement from cricket in the winter of 2008, aged just 31. In a statement he said “It’s been a real honour to captain Middlesex. I’ve been very lucky to play first-class cricket for 8 years at Kent and 4 years at Middlesex. I’d like to thank all the players, coaches and supporters who have helped me enjoy the game I love.” The Middlesex chairman, Ian Lovett, said of Smith that “Having taken over the captaincy when we were at particularly low ebb, he played a major role, helping us achieve markedly improved results.” Presciently, he also said of Smith that “He is a man with a wide range of talents and I am sure he will make a great success of his future career.”
He has become a successful journalist and author. He has written 4 books – “Playing Hard Ball” (a comparison of baseball and cricket), “On and Off the Field” (a diary of the year he played for England, and Wisden Book of the Year), “What Sport Tells Us About Life” and “Luck”, published in April 2012.
In October 2010, he wrote and presented “Inside Sport”, his first documentary for BBC1 television. He also wrote and presented “Peak Performance” for BBC Radio 3, a series comparing the shared experiences of sportsmen and musicians.
After retiring from cricket, Ed wrote the Mind Games column for the “Daily Telegraph”, before joining “The Times” as a leader writer. He is now a “Times” features writer, contributor to “The Spectator” and a “GQ” columnist. This promises to be an evening to remember in the company of a very bright young man.