ET writes new chapter in career

13 April 2012

He may have the most ordinary surname in the book, but there is nothing ordinary abut the career of Kent cricketer Ed Smith.

Scoring runs for his county is the day job, something he has been doing with consummate skill and fluency in recent weeks. However, once the bat and the gloves are tucked away in the locker, Edward Thomas Smith, cricketer, is transformed into ET Smith, writer and critic.

Author of an acclaimed first book about baseball and currently compiling his second about cricket, in between rewriting the record books with his prolific bat, ET has plenty of reason to phone home.

He could tell his family about the most remarkable month of a cricket career which has burst into bloom after promising so much for so long. Smith entered July 2003 on the back of an embarrassing three-ball pair against Essex and ended it with six centuries under his belt - five in the Championship and one in the National League. Seven innings in the Championship yielded 740 runs (at an average of 105.71). They included his first double century, 203 against Lancashire at Blackpool, and, when he reached 194, he became the first man to score 1,000 runs for the season.

Every day must have seemed like his birthday. In fact, 19 July was his 26th. To complete the celebrations, Smith has been chosen as the winner of the prestigious Evening Standard Cricketer of the Month award for July and receives a bronze statuette plus a magnum of Veuve Cliquot champagne.

"I'm delighted and honoured," said Smith. "But I can't honestly say I've done anything different really. I tried to bat more positively and things have clicked. Getting a cluster of big scores builds your confidence and you feel better each time you go out to bat. I hope there's more to come."

Smith's run-glut in the Championship began with scores of 135 and a duck against Surrey at The Oval, followed by 149 and 113 against Nottinghamshire at Maidstone, 203 off the Lancashire attack at Blackpool and 108 and 32 against Essex at Canterbury. In between he hit 122 and 36 in the National League against Glamorgan and Yorkshire. A total of 898 runs from nine innings at an average of 99.77.

Smith said: "It's difficult to pick out a favourite because I enjoyed them all in different ways. Getting 135 against Surrey was very pleasing because they have the best bowling attack. Hitting two centuries in a match against Notts was special but so was the 200 against Lancashire. It was my first double century. But the last one against Essex (108 out of 184, next top score 12) was probably the most important for the team."

Smith played for the England Under-19 side in 1996 alongside Andrew Flintoff, Ben Hollioake and James Ormond. He said: "Since I was a kid all I wanted to do was play cricket for Kent and play for England. Of course, I want to play Test cricket, it's the ultimate challenge."

Smith's book, Playing Hardball, was the result of four trips to New York, where he went to play and study baseball. "I only went for a week's holiday at first but fell in love with the place and with the New York Mets. It's become a big part of my life," he said. Playing Hardball was published last year and the paperback version came out this summer. Sales have been brisk in view of the author's recent exploits with a different shaped bat.

Smith, who also reviews books for a Sunday broadsheet, is producing his second book for Penguin this winter. This one is on cricket, something he clearly knows plenty about.

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