Will Smeed

Will Smeed

Personal information
Full name	William Conrad Francis Smeed
Born	(2001-10-26) 26 October 2001 (age 22) Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm off break
Role	Batsman
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2020–present	Somerset (squad no. 23)
2021–present	Birmingham Phoenix
2022–present	Quetta Gladiators
2023	St Kitts & Nevis Patriots
2024	MI Emirates
Only List A	14 July 2022 England Lions v South Africa
Twenty20 debut	11 September 2020 Somerset v Worcestershire
Career statistics
Competition LA T20 Matches 1 101 Runs scored 0 2,498 Batting average 0.00 26.02 100s/50s 0/0 1/16 Top score 0 101* Catches/stumpings 0/– 46/–
Source: Cricinfo, 15 September 2024

William Conrad Francis Smeed (born 26 October 2001) is an English cricketer.^[1] He made his Twenty20 debut on 11 September 2020, for Somerset in the 2020 T20 Blast.^[2] On 10 August 2022 he became the first player to score a century in The Hundred (101* from 50 balls) for Birmingham Phoenix vs Southern Brave.^[3]

In November 2022, Smeed announced he was to give up red ball cricket to focus solely on the shorter forms of the game.^[4]

Coming at such an early stage of his career, at the age of 21, some have seen the decision as being indicative of the decline of red ball cricket. Barney Ronay, in The Guardian, noted that Smeed “…who will make a wonderful living from being able to polo mallet sixes into the stands, has retired from red ball cricket having never played a game of red ball cricket, because, frankly, only one of these things looks like the future.”^[5]

Biography

Smeed was a prep school pupil at Millfield School and played rugby, football, hockey, tennis and competed in the hurdles, as well as playing cricket. From ages 13 to 18 Smeed was educated at independent school King's College, Taunton in Somerset, where he was a part of their cricket programme. He studied maths, further maths, chemistry and physics to A Level, achieving an A* in each subject.^[6] He is studying an undergraduate Open University degree in maths and economics.^[7]

In April 2022, he was bought by the Birmingham Phoenix for the 2022 season of The Hundred.^[8] He made his List A debut on 14 July 2022, for the England Lions during South Africa's tour of England.^[9]

References

1. "Will Smeed". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
2. "Central Group (N), Taunton, Sep 11 2020, Vitality Blast". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
3. "Hundred history-maker Will Smeed has 'aspirations in all three formats'". The Independent. 12 August 2022. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
4. "Somerset batter Smeed signs white-ball only deal". BBC Sport. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
5. Ronay, Barney (8 April 2023). "The Indian Premier League is a brilliant thing – but is killing Test cricket". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
6. "A Level Results 2020". King's College, Taunton.
7. "Meet Will Smeed, the Somerset teenager wiser than his years". The Cricketer. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
8. "The Hundred 2022: latest squads as Draft picks revealed". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
9. "Tour Match, Worcester, July 14, 2022, South Africa tour of England". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 15 July 2022.

External links

• Will Smeed at ESPNcricinfo