After learning to bat on difficult, bouncy pitches in South Africa, a quirk of the calendar meant that it took Smith 36 Tests and more than four years in his England career before he played a Test on the subcontinent.
The perception became that Smith struggled against high-class spin bowling, and in 1993, after averaging only 24 in India before being dismissed seven times in 10 innings by Shane Warne or Tim May in the Ashes, this perception became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Smith operated on a serious shoulder injury later that summer, which destroyed his ball-like throws from the boundary line, but it did not come to fruition under the management of Stewart’s replacement, Keith Fletcher, or the new chairman of selectors, Ray Illingworth.
Smith, who had been an automatic choice for years, was suddenly thrust into the limelight, his confidence dented by Fletcher’s public criticism of his off-field activities, which included a deal with a cricket equipment manufacturer.
By now South Africa had been readmitted to international cricket, and Smith was extremely disappointed by being dropped for the first home series against the country of his birth and then for the 1994–95 Ashes.
Smith was recalled due to injuries against the West Indies in 1995 – including a cheekbone fracture caused by Ian Bishop – and earned a ticket to tour South Africa that winter, but he continued to feel publicly undermined by Illingworth, who was now performing a dual role as coach following Fletcher’s dismissal.
After missing out on the chaotic 1996 World Cup in the subcontinent, Smith’s England career ended at the age of 32.
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