Ed Smith

Ed Smith is a former county and England cricketer and is currently a National Selector for England Cricket. He is a celebrated writer and broadcaster on sporting matters, and is a co-founder of the Institute of Sports Humanities.

Smith studied at Cambridge, where he earned a full blue for cricket and graduated with a double first in History. During his sporting career, he played for Kent and Middlesex, captaining the latter for two seasons and leading the team to its first major trophy in fifteen years, as well as representing England in three test matches. He was forced to retire in 2008 when he broke his ankle, but continued his involvement in the sport off the pitch. As a sports broadcaster, he has commentated for the BBC’s Test Match Special, and has written and presented for Radio 3 and Radio 4. In 2018, he returned to the national game when he was appointed chief National Selector of the English team, responsible for picking cricketing talent for Test, Twenty20 and one-day teams.

Smith has written several books on cricket and other subjects. His first book, Playing Hard Ball, explores the history, psychology and his personal reflections on cricket. Its follow-up, On and Off the Field, was a diary of the 2003 season and was awarded the Wisden Book of the Year and shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year. Further books include Luck: What it Means and Why it Matters, and What Sport Tells Us About Life. He has written for Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, the Sunday Telegraph, the Sunday Times and the New Statesman amongst others, on subjects ranging from sport to politics. Combining his two loves, Smith has played for the Authors Cricket Club alongside literary figures such as Sebastian Faulks and Nicholas Hogg.