Kenneth Smales

Kenneth Smales was born 15 September 1927 in Horsforth, Yorkshire and is a first-class cricketer who played 13 games for Yorkshire from 1948 to 1950 and 148 matches for Nottinghamshire from 1951 to 1958.

A right arm, off break bowler, he took 389 wickets at 30.7 with a best of all ten for 66 against Gloucestershire at Stroud. He took five wickets in an innings 20 times and 10 wickets in a match on 5 occasions. He scored 2,512 runs at 14.43 with a best of 64 against Glamorgan, one of 4 fifties he compiled. He took 60 catches in the field. He had one hat-trick to his name against Lancashire at Trent Bridge.

Career and achievements

Kenneth joined Nottingham Forest Football Club in 1958 as assistant secretary then became full-time secretary in January 1961. He went on to give over 35 years of service to the club, and was secretary during the 'great' years of Brian Clough's reign, where the club won countless trophies both home and abroad. He has put his signature to many famous transfers, notably that of the first million pound footballer, Trevor Francis.

Privately, he was an accomplished golfer achieving a handicap of 4 at Wollaton Park Golf Club, as well as playing local amateur cricket for Bulwell CC well into his 40's. He wrote a book on the history of Nottingham Forest FC, [ Smales, Ken (1992) "Forest - The First 125 Years", Nottingham, Temple Printing, ISBN 1870010094] with in-depth facts about the club's history and he runs a fascinating web site: (www.forestforays.piczo.com) which brings the club's history to life.

He has a son (Michael) and two grandchildren (Anna and Joseph). [http://content-www.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/20815.html Cricinfo Profile]

[http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/32/32816/32816.html Cricket Archive Statistics]

References