Whitgift’s latest England cricketer could be his best yet – Inside Croydon

It was easy to overlook in the week after the general election when he made his cricket debut in a Lord’s Test in which James Anderson retired from international play and his Surrey team-mate Gus Atkinson took 12 wickets on debut.

Precocious: Former Whitgift pupil Jamie Smith impresses for England

But Jamie Smith, England’s new batsman, will not be overlooked for long.

Smith’s call-up was hailed as “the missing piece in BazBall” and after just his first senior international innings, he was described as world-class by no less a judge than Joe Root.

Smith is the fourth former pupil of South Croydon’s Whitgift School in recent years to graduate professional degrees at The Oval and then into the England squad.

He follows Rory Burns, now Surrey’s captain, T20 World Cup winner Jason Roy and Dom Sibley, who learned their trade under former Surrey cricketers David Ward and Neil Kendrick, on the immaculately maintained cricket lawns and squares of of the former Haling Manor and continued. to play for their country.

And according to those in the know, Smith could be in and around the England dressing room for some time.

He celebrated his 24th birthday last week while making his Test debut at HQ.

Precocious doesn’t even begin to cover it.

Epsom-born Smith was called up to Whitgift’s first XI as a 13-year-old schoolboy – four or five years younger than most of the players he faced. By then he had already played for Surrey’s under-17s, aged just 12.

He made his Surrey debut a week before his 18th birthday in a T20 against Middlesex at Lord’s. In the winter of 2022–23, aged 22, he hit the fastest hundred by a Lions batsman – England’s B development team – in a four-day match with a 71-ball effort against Sri Lanka at Galle.

This week, one of his former teachers at Whitgift recalled: “Jamie Smith was in my class. He was quiet and very polite. I remember David Ward coming up to me and saying, “He could be among the best I’ve ever seen.”

Smith plays for England today on the second day of the second Test against the West Indies at Trent Bridge.

Smith was called upon to be England’s handyman to replace Jonny Bairstow, once a key part of the set-up under skipper Ben Stokes, and Surrey’s No.1 wicketkeeper Ben Foakes.

Smith bats at No.4 for Surrey and his powerful batting has also seen him included in England’s T20 squad this week, where Joss Buttler is the captain and, so far, the wicket-keeper.

Crushing time: Smith hit 70 runs at Lord’s, impressing even the blazers in the pavilion

The Surrey player had a decent enough Test debut with the gloves at Lord’s and scored a strong 70 which drew plenty of ‘ooohs’ and ‘aaahs’ from the egg-and-red tie blazers seated in the Member’s Pavilion.

The second innings of yesterday’s Test provided a cameo in two balls faced by Smith to demonstrate his extraordinary strengths and his inexperience or naivety. With one ball, just short of a length, he effortlessly pulled it into the stands to reach 36. Next ball, he tried to repeat the score, only to send the ball into the grateful hands of a West Indies fielder.

Test skipper Stokes said of Smith that he “fits perfectly with everything we want”.

And this is a competent wicketkeeper who, when batting, can keep the scoreboard clicking on top while cultivating the stroke from the tail-enders – something Bairstow used to do reliably while being too accident-prone when he was holding, and something that the outstanding goalkeeper Foakes was not. able to do with the bat.

“If you look at Jamie over the last couple of seasons, he’s been incredibly impressive,” Stokes said. “The weight of the runs, but also the way he scored them. We are very, very excited about what Jamie can bring us.”

Smith scored a century and 70 for Surrey in England’s call-up week. “It shows a lot about his character at such a young age, which is a great thing to have, especially when you’re about to step up to the next level,” Stokes said.

Smith’s Test debut 70 included two massive sixes as he ran out of batting partners. “I thought he was world class,” Root said. “The way he handled his innings, he got into it and then he was able to shift straight through the gears and apply pressure, which was one of the reasons he was selected.”

Root says Smith’s reputation will rise quickly among other parts: “It will emerge as he comes out to bat, now that fear in the opposition, that he has the ability to really take the game and close really hard. an inning out.”

After his debut, Smith said: “I’ve always pushed myself to play for England, so I’m just taking it all in. I’ve loved it so far, it’s the most amazing feeling to have the support of the whole team. get out there and perform.

“It’s a very welcoming environment and I feel like I play best when I’m relaxed, so it’s perfect.”

From the archive: Click here to listen to another former England cricketer, Mark Butcher, on our 2019 Under The Flyover podcast

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