Will Smith, a product of the Durham UCEE, joined Nottinghamshire in 2002. His performances earned him him a regular place in the Notts batting line-up in 2006 - playing in all 26 One Day games and 14 of the 18 First-Class fixtures. Despite this, he elected to move to Durham for 2007.
William Rew Smith is a native of Bedfordshire, born in Luton, and was educated at Bedford School, being in the XI for four years. His best school summer was 1999, when he averaged 72.6 with the bat and 21.58 with the ball. He made his debut for both Bedfordshire and Notts Seconds still aged only 16. In 2000, Smith played for England Under 17s; in the three seasons from 2003 to 2005 he attended Durham University, captaining the students for two years; he also led British Universities in 2005.
After leaving Notts, he played for Durham, where he prospered; he was the county's Player of the Year in 2008 and was appointed as the new captain in November 2008, succeeding Dale Benkenstein. He lead them to a successful defence of their County Championship Title in his first year in charge.
He left Durham and moved South to Hampshire and played for them between 2013-2017 before returning to Durham where he finished his playing career, in 2019.
He played 183 First-Class matches, top scoring with 210 against Lancashire, one of 18 centuries, at an average of 32.78 from 9,541 runs; he took 32 First-Class wickets at 50.90 with a best return of 3-34 v Leicestershire, he also took 115 catches. In 118 List-A games, Smith made 2,782 runs at 29.59, with a top score of 120no for Hants against Durham; his T20 record shows 1,116 runs at 16.33 with a best score of 55, made for Notts v Yorkshire.
Will Smith is a keen journalist and writes for All-Out Cricket and has contributed cricket commentary for Sky and the BBC, he also enjoys watching football and supports non-league side Rushden & Diamonds.
August 2020
Nottinghamshire First-Class Number: 570