Former England cricket captain Smith dies aged 92

A portrait of Mike Smith taken while chairman of Warwickshire County Cricket Club in 1996Image source, Getty Images
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MJK Smith was the last dual international to represent the England cricket side

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Former Warwickshire and England captain Mike Smith, known throughout the game as MJK, has died at the age of 92.

Right-handed batter Smith played 50 Tests for England, captaining the side in exactly half of those matches, and represented Warwickshire for 19 years from 1956 to 1975.

He made his England debut against New Zealand at Edgbaston in 1958 and scored 2,278 runs in a 14-year Test career, including three centuries and 11 fifties, and was awarded his OBE in 1976 for services to cricket.

Players and officials lined up to pay their respects before play began at Edgbaston in the County Championship match between Warwickshire and Glamorgan on Monday.

Born in Leicestershire and educated at Stamford School, Smith represented his home county and Oxford University before joining Warwickshire.

He captained the Bears from 1957 to 1967 and scored 39,832 first-class runs in 637 matches during his county career, the 18th-highest total of all time.

Smith still holds the Warwickshire record for most runs in a single season after scoring 2,417 runs in 1959 and was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1960.

He remained involved with cricket after his retirement as a player, as chairman of Warwickshire and also as an ICC match referee, officiating in four Tests and 17 ODIs.

A dual international, Smith played rugby union for Oxford University and Leicester and won a cap for England against Wales in January 1956.

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