My experience as manager of England was not good. I managed two full tours of England, to the West Indies [1993-94] and Australia [1994-95]. We lost both to better sides.

If a measure of a captain is getting the best out of players, then MJK Smith has few equals. A fine batsman, who scored more than 30,000 runs for the Bears, MJK’s leadership and man-management skills were legendary, whether deployed for his county or in 25 Tests as captain of his country. He had some advantages. That foundation. Brian Lara. Bowlers including Allan Donald, Gladstone Small and Tim Munton. But many skippers have had fine players under them and failed to deliver success.

About Wisden

Second Victory Test at Bramall Lane: photo from Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/ 3 August 2020 Hughes is right; who among us would not have loved the chance to have played in a Lord's final watched by millions, regardless of the outcome? It may have ruined Middlesex's reception at the Regent's Park Hilton, it may have left Hughes numb, but you can't deny that the drama provided by both teams, and that final over especially, takes its place neatly alongside other famous moments which make the history of the NatWest Trophy so rich. The Brooke-Lambert Statistician of the Year was Julian Lawton Smith, for his work on the Minor Counties Project, and the two winners of the inaugural Peter Wynne-Thomas Award, for members who, by their own voluntary efforts, have provided help or other benefits to the wider membership in particular ways over a lengthy period, were John Ward and Harry Watton. MJK Smith scored 39,832 runs in a 25-year career and was also capped 50 times by England, half of which came as captain between 1963 and 1966. The teams moved to New Zealand, where England went up 1-0. Smith was drafted in for the second Test at Wellington, where Fred Trueman and Knight skittled out the hosts for 194. Ken Barrington scored a diligent 76 while four others crossed 30. At 265 for 8 England were in a strong position, but they had not yet batted New Zealand out of the Test.

Ruling Planet: MJK Smith has a ruling planet of Moon and has a ruling planet of Moon and by astrological associations Sunday is ruled by moon. The Moon represents one's nurturing and emotional instinct. People who are born with Moon as the ruling planet are sensitive, nurturing, and usually have fluctuating moods. Alan ‘AC’ Smith, donning those gauntlets behind stumps, had a brief discussion with Dennis Amiss before taking the pads off. Amiss took up the place behind stumps. Smith took the ball and sent down a maiden with his odd-looking action where he bowled off the wrong foot (think Mike Procter and Sohail Tanvir from later days). At the other end Ibadulla conceded 6. The score read 28 without loss. Cambridge consisted of David John Green, Roger Prideaux, and (perhaps on a lesser note) Henry Blofeld, but they were never in the match. They lost by 85 runs. MJK Smith, born June 30, 1933, was one of the most popular captains of England. Arunabha Sengupta remembers the career of the man who led in exactly half the number of Tests he played, and was the last captain to win a series against South Africa for over 32 years.

MJK Smith 1957-1967

Of the 39,830 he finished with, probably 70 per cent were scored on the leg-side. This is not to say, though, that he was a poor off-side player. When he chose he could cover drive with the best, once he had come through the invariably painful process of playing himself in. Tactically he was inclined to be cautious, as England’s captain anyway, and there is nothing unusual about that. He took over the England side in 1963, on a two-month tour to India, and was relieved of it after England had been heavily beaten by West Indies in the First Test of 1966. By 1961, Edgbaston was looking resplendent. Refurbished and renewed, principally due to the pool funding, its capacity had increased to 32,000, equal to that of Lord’s. It was a proud day for Smith to lead his country against the old enemy on his home county ground – and although rain ruined the match, Saturday’s play attracted a ground record crowd of 25,000. England managed to get through the tedious five Test series 0-0, and Smith did enjoy success as a batsman scoring 306 at 51.00. But, on his return to England, he was not considered good enough to merit a place in the side for batting alone. With Ted Dexter returning as captain, he was dropped from the side.

I made my first-class debut for Leicestershire, the county of my birth, in 1951, immediately after leaving school. But I had played just three games when I was called up for compulsory military service. Having retired from the First Class game in 1975, he became Club Chairman between 1991 and 2003, and was an ICC match referee between 1991 and 1996.It took some time to dawn that he was as good as he was, or such an excellent man. His appearance, I think, had something to do with this. To see him emerging from the pavilion in The Parks, as an outwardly gauche and gangling undergraduate, and to watch him taking guard, face screwed up behind those rimless spectacles, was not a convincing introduction. I recall my father telling me that MJK had always been a bad starter, although to a young Clive Lloyd fan he didn’t look especially vulnerable. It is clear from Miller’s book however that it wasn’t just my Dad who took that view, and MJK did have that reputation. The best part of half a century on I have come to realise that Big Clive’s early innings woes were all the more pronounced because of his gangling physique, and perhaps he wasn’t that much more uncertain than the likes of MJK.