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Henry Smoker

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Henry Smoker
Personal information
Full name Henry George Smoker
Date of birth (1881-03-01)1 March 1881
Place of birth Hinton Ampner, Hampshire, England
Date of death 7 September 1966(1966-09-07) (aged 85)
Place of death Wallasey, Cheshire, England
Position(s) Outside-left
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1900–1904 Southampton 2 (0)

Personal information
BattingLeft-handed
BowlingRight-arm medium-fast
RelationsGeorge Smoker (father)
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1901–1907Hampshire
1909–1925Cheshire
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 31
Runs scored 334
Batting average 9.54
100s/50s –/–
Top score 39*
Balls bowled 1,416
Wickets 33
Bowling average 22.21
5 wickets in innings 2
10 wickets in match –
Best bowling 7/35
Catches/stumpings 18/–
Source: CricInfo, 10 September 2009
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Henry George Smoker (1 March 1881 – 7 September 1966) was an English sportsman who played football for Southampton and first-class cricket for Hampshire. He also played minor counties cricket for Cheshire.

Football career

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The son of George Smoker who had played cricket for Hampshire in the 1880s, he was born at Hinton Ampner near Alresford in Hampshire in March 1881.[1] Smoker signed for Southampton of the Southern Football League in the close-season of 1900, but spent most of his career at The Dell in the reserves.[1] Described as "a speedy left-winger who favoured taking on the full-back rather than delivering the early cross",[2] he eventually made his first-team debut over three years after joining Southampton when he took the place of the injured Dick Evans for the match against Wellingborough Town on 7 November 1903.[3] His only other appearance for Southampton came on 2 January 1904; Evans was now out with a serious leg injury and trainer Bill Dawson had tried to fill the vacancy at outside-left, firstly with John Fraser and then Harry Turner, before settling on Joe Turner, with Southampton going on to claim their sixth, and last, Southern League championship.[3] In the summer of 1904, Smoker decided to quit professional football to concentrate on his cricket career.[2]

Cricket career

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Smoker made his debut in first-class cricket for Hampshire against Lancashire at Portsmouth in the 1901 County Championship.[4] His most prolific season was in 1907, when he played eleven matches,[4] though he missed part of the season due to measles.[5] In this season, he took 31 wickets with his right-arm medium-fast bowling at an average of 19.41, including two five wicket hauls.[6] His best bowling came against the touring South Africans at Southampton in 1907, taking 7 for 35 in the South Africans first innings.[7] In 31 first-class appearances for Hampshire, he scored 334 runs at a batting average of 9.54,[8] while with the ball he took 33 wickets at an average of 22.21.[9]

Smoker left Hampshire at the end of the 1907 season to become the professional at New Brighton Cricket Club of the Liverpool Competition for the 1908 season.[10] Beginning in 1909, he began playing Minor Counties Cricket for Cheshire, making his debut in the Minor Counties Championship against Staffordshire.[11] Before the First World War, he played in the Lancashire League for Colne in 1912 and 1913.[12] During the war, he served in the British Army as a sergeant with the Royal Field Artillery on the Western Front.[1] Following the war, he returned to minor counties cricket with Cheshire, for whom he played for until 1925.[11]

Later life

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After retiring from playing, he became groundsman and cricket coach at Birkenhead School in 1930, a position he held until 1960.[13] Smoker died at Wallasey in September 1966.[14] He was married to the sister of Victor Norbury, who also played cricket for Hampshire and football for Southampton.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "George Smoker". www.saintsplayers.co.uk. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  2. ^ a b Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (1992). The Alphabet of the Saints. Leicester: ACL & Polar Publishing. pp. 316–317. ISBN 0951486233.
  3. ^ a b Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan (1987). Saints – A complete record. Peterborough: Breedon Books. pp. 34–35. ISBN 0907969224.
  4. ^ a b "First-Class Matches played by Henry Smoker". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  5. ^ "Hampshire v. Warwickshire". Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game. Vol. 26, no. 756. London. 11 July 1907. p. 268. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  6. ^ "First-Class Bowling in Each Season by Henry Smoker". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  7. ^ "Hampshire v South Africans, South Africa in British Isles 1907". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  8. ^ "First-Class Batting and Fielding For Each Team by Henry Smoker". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  9. ^ "First-Class Bowling For Each Team by Henry Smoker". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  10. ^ "Liverpool and District notes". Athletic News. Manchester. 3 August 1908. p. 3. Retrieved 27 May 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. ^ a b "Minor Counties Championship Matches played by Henry Smoker". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  12. ^ "Burnley resolutions". Burnley Express. 7 June 1913. p. 12. Retrieved 27 May 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  13. ^ Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan; Bull, David (2013). All the Saints: A Complete Players' Who's Who of Southampton FC. Bristol: Hagiology Publishing. p. 177. ISBN 9780992686406.
  14. ^ "Mr. George Smoker: Death of Merseyside cricket stalwart". Liverpool Echo. 19 September 1966. p. 9. Retrieved 27 May 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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