As the Ashes circus arm-wrestles into place in Leeds, wistful eyes solid again to 2019, when Ben Stokes carved out the second one Headingley miracle of the ages. But now not all England gamers have fond reminiscences of surly skies and the Kirkstall Lane finish.
It was once on the Headingley Ashes Test of 1997 that Gloucestershire’s Mike Smith gained his one and best England cap, all through that relentless length of Australian dominance. It was once certainly one of England’s flightier performances: Jason Gillespie grabbing seven for 37 all through a disastrous first innings, earlier than Australia ran up 501, declared, after which rattled via England once more to win via an innings and 61 runs.
Smith (23–2–89–0), was once the main wicket-taker within the nation on the time and had very handily picked up 10 wickets at Headingley when Gloucestershire performed Yorkshire in early June. His left-arm swing bowling have been discussed in dispatches via the media and he was once duly whistled up via David Graveney, the chairman of selectors, as a past due call-up for the fit.
However, there have been not one of the trinkets and rite that accompany as of late’s England debutants, with Smith being advised he had made the XI lower than an hour earlier than play began. He had a sense in his bones that every one was once now not neatly.
“I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I knew something wasn’t quite right,” he says. “There was a bit of controversy about who was going to play, either me or Andy Caddick, and it was a decision that went right to the wire and involved quite a lot of people – unknown to me at the time. Anyway, they plumped for me and I think it’s fair to say that some people disagreed with that decision.
“It didn’t go my way. If you are picked as a swing bowler and if you don’t get the ball to swing then all of a sudden there’s a problem in terms of your potency and that’s the way it worked out. I don’t know why, even to this day. Maybe I was a bit tense, I didn’t feel it but maybe subconsciously and the wicket was a tiny bit abrasive and that took the shine off the ball pretty quickly.
“I had a catch dropped. I didn’t get a wicket, I didn’t bat very well, I dropped a catch and they’d seen enough, I didn’t get picked for the next Test. The disappointing thing for me was that I didn’t do myself anywhere near justice.”
As well as not performing as he would have liked, Smith got something of a pasting in the press – with Wisden calling his selection “a disaster”.
“I remember going into the press conference, I must have had a book under my arm, and the Sun called me a fast-bowling librarian. Then this fella came over after I’d left the press conference and asked, if you weren’t a cricketer what would you have been? I said that I had studied French and German at university. That was the extent of our conversation, but in the paper he said that I turned down a job at the European Union as a translator. It was quite amusing but completely untrue.”
At the end of the Test, Smith returned to Bristol. “It was good to be back to what I knew and they were very supportive, they knew it hadn’t gone well.” He did not pay attention the tinkle of the selective telephone once more and whilst the remainder of the gamers from the collection went on a excursion of West Indies, Smith was once left at house.
“I understand, it wouldn’t have suited my type of bowling. I was never going to play 50 Test matches but I might have played three or four. I was no spring chicken, but I was bowling well and I was quite confident, but it just didn’t happen for me. I get mentioned in the top 10 worst cricketers to play for England. I’ve seen those websites and I just think fair enough, but it wasn’t anywhere near the best I could play.”
These days, he is a match referee in the summer and an employment lawyer in the winter. Softly spoken, he sits in the press tent during the championship match between Lancashire and Hampshire at Southport and, while keeping an eye on the umpiring decisions, is engaging company.
He did a law degree during the winter while he was a player and qualified after retirement. He was the Professional Cricketers’ Association’s employment lawyer and deputy chairman of the Cricket Discipline Commission, but had to stop both of those when he took up the match referee role.
“It is good fun. We compile a report on the pitch, assess the umpires’ performances, the conduct issues of players, concussion replacements. We are there to ensure everything runs as smoothly as it should do. The pitch assessment is very important, it is important for English cricket that county cricket is played on the best possible pitches, not ones that suit the home side.”
Does he still think about his one Test? “I’m quite phlegmatic as a character, I managed to put it behind me pretty quickly. Life doesn’t always go as you want it to. And it was great when Andrew Strauss organised the England players’ dinner a few years ago, even with one cap you get invited to that.
“With me, it was the specific individual circumstances around selection that were tricky. He was perfectly professional but it’s fair to say Michael Atherton [the captain] would have favored Caddick and to be truthful so would I. It would had been a better choice. He's an excellent bowler and about two ft taller than me as neatly."
With that Smith smiles, takes his walkie-talkie out of his again pocket and is going to kind out some industry with the heavy curler.