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Look, who is coaching Robin Smith!
Barry Richards coaches a young Robin Smith.
17 March 2015 • 1:27 PM
Barry Richards coaching a young Robin Smith about the nuances of backlift
The span between 1970 and 1991 were the lost years for a generation of South African cricketers as their country was facing an international ban because of its apartheid policies. The careers of Barry Richards, Mike Procter, Graeme Pollock, Peter Pollock, Eddie Barlow and Clive Rice, to name just a few of colossus of the time, were truncated because of the ban. Some did not even get the feel of international cricket.
In September 1963, a boy was in Durban, Natal. This is where the great Barry Richards was from. And as the boy showed potential of becoming a good cricketer, he was fortunate to come under the tutelage of Barry Richards, as can be seen from the above photo.
The boy, fortunately, moved to Hampshire and three years before the ban was lifted on South Africa made his Test debut for England against the West Indies. That boy was none other than Robin Smith, who played 62 Tests and 71 One-Day Internationals for his adopted nation. Few played the square-cut with as much power as Smith, who played the fast bowlers of his time with great courage and skill.