Smith played 62 Tests for England between 1988 and 1996 and scored 4236 runs at an average of 43.67 with 28 half-centuries and nine hundreds and a best score of 175. He also played 71 ODIs, scoring 2419 runs at 39.01 with 15 fifties and four hundreds. (Express Photo | Sriram Veera)Former England batter Robin Smith passed away at the age of 62 in Perth on Tuesday. The Telegraph reported that news of his passing was informed by one of Smith’s former Hampshire teammates, Kevan James, on BBC Radio Solent, where he is employed as a sports presenter.
“It’s been horrible. It’s a sad day, but when you look at someone’s career… At the time, in the 80s and 90s, he was England’s best batter. He was a super player, particularly of fast bowling in an era where the West Indies had all these fast bowlers.
“He was one of the few England batters who stood up to them and basically gave as good as he got,” James said.
“It is with the deepest and most profound sense of sadness and loss that we must announce the passing of Robin Smith. Robin rose to fame as one of England’s most charismatic and popular players. A brave and dashing batsman, he excelled both for Hampshire and his adopted country, collecting legions of admirers and friends along the way,” Smith’s family put out a statement.
Smith played 62 Tests for England between 1988 and 1996 and scored 4236 runs at an average of 43.67 with 28 half-centuries and nine hundreds and a best score of 175. He also played 71 ODIs, scoring 2419 runs at 39.01 with 15 fifties and four hundreds.
The right-hander played all of his first-class cricket in England with Hampshire, for whom he made 26155 red-ball runs in 426 matches with 61 hundreds. He also played 443 List A matches, making 14927 runs at 41.12 with 27 centuries.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Indian Express last year, Smith had opened up about his post-career struggles, where he had revealed how he had visualised his own death by suicide.
“I had even planned how it would all end. Check into a hotel, take a cocktail of drinks and pills, have a smoke, and leap off the balcony,” he had said.
He had also opened up about his alcohol problem and dealing with loneliness after he had to stop working to take care of his ailing father at home.
“I was too idle, and went drinking again. You would think here I am, having written a book about all that, opened my soul to the world, and would be more intelligent about the dangers. But that’s how it goes. What can I tell you; it’s a bloody spiral but deep inside you know you can’t blame anyone but you. But I was gripped again,” he had added.
“Robin Smith was a player who stood toe to toe with some of the quickest bowlers in the world, meeting spells of hostile fast bowling with a defiant smile and an incredible resilience. He did so in a way that gave England fans enormous pride, and no shortage of entertainment.
“He was a batter ahead of his time which was typified in that unforgettable unbeaten 167 from 163 balls in an ODI against Australia at Edgbaston in 1993. His record at Hampshire is exemplary, and he’ll be remembered rightly as a great of Hampshire CCC. We’re desperately sad to learn of his passing, and the thoughts of all of us in cricket are with his friends, family and loved ones,” ECB Chair Richard Thompson said.
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