Fine a bowler as Angus Fraser was, he probably wasn’t quick enough to get Robin Smith’s juices flowing. But the former England cricketer, and Independent cricket correspondent, may have summed up his old teammate better than most. “There have been many players who have suggested they would rather face 90mph throat balls than gentle leg-breaks but Smith is the only one I truly believe,” said England’s most skilful bowler of the early 1990s.
Nor was there any false bravado from Smith when he said, in many an interview, that he felt no fear against the quickest of the quicks, especially as he would often caveat it by admitting he was afraid of Shane Warne, whose leg-breaks were not gentle, but were rather less likely to inflict physical damage. Smith’s demons could be mental, but there were few braver batters in cricketing history. Few finer, too, when the speed gun showed deliveries timed at something approaching 100mph. From Donald Bradman to Brian Lara, there have been suspicions that some of the greatest ever had a slight susceptibility to raw pace. Smith was that rarity: he was better against it.
