AC Smith was an effective allrounder and, in later years, a leading administrator. A dogged middle-order batsman, a niggly right-arm seamer who bowled off the wrong foot, and a tidy if unspectacular wicketkeeper, his success came early on. He was described more than once as the "complete cricketer". He scored three hundred - two for Oxford in 1959 - held six catches in an innings in 1970 and in 1965 took off his pads and promptly took a hat-trick. He won Blues in all three years for Oxford - he captained them in his last two summers - and after a good summer for Warwickshire was picked, to many people's surprise, to tour Australia and New Zealand in 1962-63 where he kept wicket in six of the eight matches. But competition was fierce and Murray was a better keeper, Parks a better batsman, and he never appeared again. He continued to serve Warwickshire with distinction, leading them to the Championship in 1972 and the Gillette Cup in 1968. After retiring, he was a Test selector, an England tour manager, secretary of Warwickshire, and the first chief executive of the Test & County Cricket Board - in the latter post his unwillingness to commit was legendary. He was also, in his spare time, a director of Aston Villa (he was also a football Blue).
Martin Williamson