Dennis Smith stunned Englishmen

Press, 29 January 1986, Page 37

Dennis Smith stunned Englishmen

Horace Dennis Smith, who died in Christchurch last Saturday, was a principal in one of the most sensational starts to a cricket test in this country.

The 1932-33 English team, captained by Douglas Jardine, crossed the Tasman in possession of the Ashes but with AngloAustralian relations in tatters because of its Bodyline tactics.

It met New Zealand in the first of two tests at Lancaster Park in late March, 1933, and, even if only briefly, England had the rare experience of reeling from the initial efforts of the opening bowlers, Fred Badcock and Smith.

The first two English batsmen were Herbert Sutcliffe and Eddie Paynter. They had against them a somewhat unlikely pair — Badcock, at 34 years of age, was 14 years older than his partner. It is probably also the only time New Zealand’s new

ball attack has comprised overseas-bom players. Badcock was bom in India and Smith in Toowoomba, Australia.

But Sutcliffe had precious little time to ponder about such matters, and he never did get to face Smith. From the first ball of the match Badcock had Sutcliffe caught by the wicket-keeper, Ken James. Walter Hammond replaced Sutcliffe and he fortuitously snicked a boundary just out of reach of the New Zealand slips fieldsmen. England’s score was four for one wicket when young Smith was tossed the ball by his captain, Curly Page.

Moments later Smith was being congratulated by his team-mates — he had bowled the renowned left-hander, Paynter, with his opening delivery in test cricket The fortunes of Badcock, Smith and New Zealand were to take a turn for tfrp worse from that

point. Hammond went on to score 227 and he shared with Les Ames a fifth-wicket partnership of 242 runs in the 145 minutes it took Ames to reach 103.

Badcock had some compensation when he eventually bowled Hammond and he also claimed Jardine’s wicket to finish with three for 142 from 54 overs. Smith had to be content with one for 113 off 20 overs.

England declared when it lost its eighth wicket at 560. New Zealand replied with 223 — Smith was bowled by Maurice Tate for four — and followed on 337 runs in arrears:

Concern that New Zealand might collapse again (it had lost seven wickets for 70 runs that morning, and Giff Vivian had not batted because of injury) on the last day of the three-day test was to be alleviated on two counts. First, Stewie Dempster

and Paul Whitelaw had accumulated 35 runs for the first wicket by 3.30 p.m. Then a dust storm caused play to cease, and the rain and bad light which followed ensured there was no resumption.

Smith was twelfth man for the return match at Eden Park. That also began in remarkable fashion. Dempster was late arriving from Wellington, so the New Zealand batting order was reshuffled, with disastrous results.

The first ball from Bill Bowes bowled Dempster’s substitute, Jack Mills. Bowes then bowled Lindsay Weir with the second. Dempster hurriedly strapped on his pads, prevented the hat-trick and went on to score a memorable unbeaten 83 in a total of 158. England reached 548 for seven declared (Hammond 336 not out) and New Zealand was 16 for none when rain ended the match

early on the third morning.

Smith had 10 other first-class fixtures, six for Otago and four for Canterbury. He scored 404 runs at 22.44 with a highest score of 52 for Otago against Canterbury, and took 17 wickets at 33.52 each.

Trotting was another sporting interest. Smith was a steward of the New Brighton Trotting Club for 15 years from 1960, a member of the committee between 1963 and 1975 and an honorary steward for the last 10 years. He was also a part-owner of the C 5 racemare, Happy Rose.

Smith was employed by A. M. Satterwaite and Co. for more than 40 years until his retirement in December, 1977. He joined the company as a sales representative, rose to the rank of general manager in the late 19405, and was managing director when he retired. ..j.