Smith calls it a day

Former Essex and Derbyshire all-rounder Greg Smith has retired from first-class cricket to take up a coaching position with Penzance.

The 32-year-old was born in Johannesburg and represented South Africa at Under-19 level before moving to Derbyshire.

Smith, who bowled both seam and off-spin and took 184 first-class wickets as well as scoring over 9,000 runs across all formats, then joined Essex in 2012 but was released at the end of the 2015 campaign and has now decided to join Cornish outfit Penzance as head coach rather than seeking a new county.

“I was still looking at finding another county but when this job came up I had a long chat with my family and it was something I couldn’t turn down,” Smith said.

“Penzance are a very ambitious club and this is an exciting opportunity for me. I hope that I can help them to unearth and develop young players and to work closely with the local community.

“I played for 14 years and unfortunately had a few injuries that plagued me at the latter part of my career and I retire with no regrets.

“I enjoyed my time with Derbyshire and made some really good friends there who I am still very close to.

“I enjoyed my four seasons with Essex during which I played in some big games, especially going to Twenty20 Finals Day.

“That day is one of my special memories along with making my maiden first-class century at Derby, my twenty20 hundred against Yorkshire and having the honour of captaining Derbyshire.

“I also had the chance to play around the world and in different conditions in Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

“Looking back on my career I loved every minute of it. I played for quite a long time and made quite a nice career out of it but now it’s time to move on to the next stage of my life and pass on all the knowledge I have gained onto the next generation of players.”


Source: ECB

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