- Collie Smith
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Collie Smith Personal information Full name O'Neil Gordon Smith Born 5 May 1933
Boys Town, Kingston, JamaicaDied 9 September 1959 (aged 26)
Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, EnglandBatting style Right-handed batsman Bowling style Right-arm off-break Role All-rounder International information National side West Indies Test debut (cap 86) 26 March 1955 v Australia Last Test 31 March 1959 v Pakistan Domestic team information Years Team 1954/55–58/59 Jamaica Career statistics Competition Test First-class Matches 26 70 Runs scored 1331 4031 Batting average 31.69 40.31 100s/50s 4/6 10/20 Top score 168 169 Balls bowled 4431 9635 Wickets 48 121 Bowling average 33.85 31.02 5 wickets in innings 1 2 10 wickets in match – – Best bowling 5/90 5/63 Catches/stumpings 9/– 39/– Source: CricketArchive, 4 September 2009 O'Neil Gordon 'Collie' Smith (born 5 May 1933 in Kingston, Jamaica, died 9 September 1959 in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England) was a West Indian cricketer.
A hard-hitting batsman and off spin bowler, Smith was rated highly in West Indies. He idolised Jim Laker for which reason he was nicknamed 'Jim' for a time. In his third first class match, he hit 169 for Jamaica against the touring Australians and was immediately included in the Test side. He started his Test career scoring 104 on debut against Australia. But after a 'pair' in the next match, he was dropped.
In England in 1957, he scored 161 and 168 in Test matches, once driving Brian Statham[citation needed] into the car park. Next year, he scored a hundred and took 5 wickets in an innings against India at Delhi.
Death
During 1958 and 1959 he played for Burnley in the Lancashire League where he set a league record of 306*. He died from injuries sustained in a car accident in 1959 at the age of 26.
The accident happened while he was travelling with his West Indian team-mates Garry Sobers and Tom Dewdney. They were driving to London to attend a charity match the next day, Sobers being the driver. The trip had already been delayed because of the traffic. At around four in the morning, the car ran into a 10-ton cattle truck driven by a Mr. Andrew Saunders. The accident happened on A34 near Stone in Staffordshire.
The injuries seemed minor initially and Smith even told Sobers, in reference to Dewdney, 'Don't worry about me. Look after the big fellow'. Smith was sleeping in the back seat and had been thrown forward. It injured his spine badly and he soon went into a coma. Smith died without regaining his consciousness three days later. His body was taken to Jamaica where 60,000 people attended the funeral.
Smith has a biography named The Happy Warrior written by Ken Chaplin a year after his death. He had the nicknames Mighty Mouse and Wayside preacher because he liked reading the lesson in the church.
References
- Garry Sobers and Brian Scovell, Twenty years at the top
- Christopher Martin-Jenkins, The Complete Who's Who of Test Cricketers
External links
Categories:- 1933 births
- 1959 deaths
- Road accident deaths in England
- Commonwealth XI cricketers
- Jamaican cricketers
- West Indies Test cricketers
- Cricketers who made a century on Test debut
- West Indian cricketers
- Wisden Cricketers of the Year
- West Indian cricket biography stubs
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