Edwin Smith book launch in Chesterfield

I am very pleased to announce that my first book, a biography of Derbyshire cricket legend Edwin Smith, will be launched in his home town.

Chesterfield Public Library have kindly agreed to host the launch, which will take place on the evening of Tuesday, August 25 at 7.30pm.

I will be interviewing Edwin on the stage of the library lecture theatre and we will then take questions from the audience before signing copies of the book for interested parties.

Priced £14, Edwin Smith: a Life in Derbyshire Cricket is published by the Association of Cricket Historians and Statisticians and features Edwin's recollections of a career where he was the lead spin bowler in the Derbyshire side at the age of 18 and remained so for twenty summers.

Over the course of his career, which ran from 1951 to 1971, he took 1217 first-class wickets and is one of only seven Derbyshire bowlers to take more than a thousand. Of those players, only he and Derek Morgan survive and, as the last to the landmark, Edwin will almost certainly be the last man to do so.

Many good judges rated him among the finest off spin bowlers in the country and only the presence of other outstanding bowlers such as Jim Laker, David Allen, John Mortimore and Fred Titmus kept him from international recognition.

He is a quite remarkable man with a great sense of humour and an extraordinary recollection of the players that he played with and against. The book contains his memories of those players and many stories have emerged, many of them in print for the first time. Hopefully it has captured life as a county cricketer over a twenty-year period and many of his contemporaries have been kind enough to supply information and stories.

It would be great to see as many people there as possible, to acknowledge Edwin as the living Derbyshire legend that he is.

Tickets will be available from the library in the near future, priced £3 (£2 concession) and I will provide contact details as soon as I have them. Please try and keep the date free!

We will also be signing copies of the book during the lunch interval of the County Championship game against Kent on Sunday August 23, after the members forum on that day.

I would like to thank both Derbyshire County Cricket Club and Derbyshire Libraries for their support - and hopefully you as well!

Not to mention Edwin...