Frank Smailes

Infobox Historic Cricketer


nationality = English
country = England
country abbrev = ENG
name = Frank Smailes
picture = Cricket_no_pic.pngbatting style = Left-hand bat
bowling style = Right-arm medium
tests = 1
test runs = 25
test bat avg = 25.00
test 100s/50s = -/-
test top score = 25
test balls = 120
test wickets = 3
test bowl avg = 20.66
test 5s = -
test 10s = -
test best bowling = 3/44
test catches/stumpings = -/-
FCs = 269
FC runs = 5892
FC bat avg = 19.25
FC 100s/50s = 3/24
FC top score = 117
FC balls = 41008
FC wickets = 822
FC bowl avg = 20.81
FC 5s = 41
FC 10s = 6
FC best bowling = 10/47
FC catches/stumpings = 154/-
debut date = 22 June
debut year = 1946
last date = 22 June
last year = 1946
source = http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/20213.html

Frank Smailes (Thomas Francis Smailes; March 27, 1910, Ripley, North Yorkshire – December 1, 1970, Harrogate, Yorkshire) was a Yorkshire cricketer of the club's outstanding years of the 1930s, when they won eight County Championships out of ten between 1931 and 1946 - and was probably denied 1934 by Test calls and 1936 by appalling weather.

Though Smailes was never a player of the class of Sutcliffe, Hutton, Bowes, Verity or Leyland, he was extremely valuable to Yorkshire because of his versatility. He could bowl either swingers as a new ball partner to Bowes, or off-breaks when pitches were affected by rain. He was also a dangerous left-handed batsman who scored over a thousand runs in 1938 with centuries against Glamorgan and Surrey.

Although he joined the Yorkshire staff in 1932, it was not until George Macaulay became unfit that Smailes had his chance of playing regularly for the first eleven. He took this chance very effectively, taking 105 wickets for around 21 runs apiece - a good average in such a fine summer even though his bowling at this stage lacked the accuracy that was expected from Yorkshire cricketers and he was perhaps overawed by having to lead the attack so often. His best performance was six for 56 against Kent, where he swung the ball prodigiously.

With Bowes and Verity dominating the following year, Smailes had fewer opportunities but his accuracy improved greatly. In the last match against Sussex he took ten wickets in a match for the first time but just missed his 100 victims. 1936, however, saw Smailes capture significant attention for the first time with an impressive all-round performance against India of 77 (including three sixes) and ten wickets for 62 runs. He shared in a partnership of 167 with Verity for the ninth wicket against Somerset in one of the most remarkable of county matches, and his fast-medium swervers could still be valuable as he showed with seven for 72 against Middlesex at Scarborough. Nonetheless, it was Smailes' development of off-spin - helped by the continuously soft wickets in the North - that caused his advance. In this style he took nine for 41 in a match against Worcestershire, six for 57 against Nottinghamshire and five for 39 versus Leicestershire.

1937, with Bowes absent for half the year, saw Smailes worked harder than ever before. Though he did not accomplish anything so good as in 1936 with the ball, he was always steady whatever style he was bowling, and as a batsman he hit his maiden century against Warwickshire early in the season. 1938 saw Smailes remarkably effective at Sheffield, but he did very little as a bowler away from Yorkshire with Bowes, Verity and Ellis Robinson all beating him in the averages. Nonetheless, ten wickets for 137 in what would but for rain have been the first triumph of a county side over an Australian touring team since 1912 saw Smailes seriously considered for an England place.

1939, despite an amazing performance of 14 for 58 against Derbyshire including ten wickets for 47 after he helped dismiss that county for 20 in the first innings, was wiped out by a major injury that allowed Smailes almost no cricket in the second half of the season. Nevertheless, with war having decimated England's ranks, Smailes finally received selection for a Test match against India in 1946. Despite not faring badly, he was not retained and during the first few post-war years, despite occasionally captaining the side when Norman Yardley could not play, he gradually dropped out of the team.

External links

* [http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/0/754/f_Bowling_by_Season.html First-Class Bowling Averages]