13 Facts About Frank Smailes

Thomas Francis Smailes was an English cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club, and one Test match for England.

Frank Smailes was one of Yorkshire's main players in the club's outstanding years, when they won eight County Championships out of ten.

Frank Smailes was a dangerous left-handed batsman who scored over a thousand runs in 1938, with centuries against Glamorgan and Surrey.

Frank Smailes lost his best potential cricketing years to the cessation of competitive cricket during World War II.

Frank Smailes debut took place on 4 May 1932, against Oxford University.

Frank Smailes shared in a partnership of 167 with Verity for the ninth wicket, against Somerset, in one of the more remarkable county matches, and his fast-medium swervers could still be valuable as he showed with seven for 72 against Middlesex at Scarborough.

Frank Smailes said, in later life, that he considered scoring that century as his greatest day in cricket.

Nonetheless, ten wickets for 137 in what would, but for rain, have been the first triumph of a county side over an Australian touring team since 1912, saw Frank Smailes seriously considered for an England place.

Frank Smailes was chosen for the Old Trafford Test in 1938, but the game was washed out without a ball being bowled.

At the start of hostilities, Frank Smailes joined the 124th Battery Light Anti Aircraft Royal Artillery, as acting sergeant major.

Frank Smailes went to the cemetery in Caserta were Verity was buried and, along with another Yorkshire-born county cricketer, Phil King, erected a simple cross on Verity's grave.

Frank Smailes was part, though, of another Yorkshire Championship winning campaign.

Frank Smailes died in Harrogate, Yorkshire in December 1970, after a long and painful illness, at the age of 60.