C. Aubrey Smith — 'Round-the-Corner' and First England Captain in South Africa

Smith was a Cambridge Blue and a successful Sussex amateur, but never quite first-rank by English standards. His selection for the 1888-89 South Africa tour was logical — strong amateur, willing to travel, available — and the captaincy came with it because the tour was private and not subject to MCC's amateur hierarchies.

By the time Smith and Warton's XI reached Port Elizabeth in March 1889 they had already played a long series of provincial matches. Smith had bowled himself heavily and was reportedly exhausted by the time of the Test, but the South African batting was no match for him on the local matting wicket.

Aubrey Smith was born in London in 1863, educated at Charterhouse and Cambridge, and made his first-class debut for Sussex in 1882. He was tall (6 ft 1 in), fast-medium right arm, and used an extraordinary curving run-up that earned him the nickname 'Round the Corner' Smith. According to Wisden's profile, his run sometimes began from deep mid-off, sometimes from behind the umpire, with a wide diagonal arc into the crease at the very last moment. The intention seems to have been deception: batsmen could not easily judge his moment of release.

Smith captained Sussex from 1887 to 1889 and was a leading amateur fast bowler of his era. In 1888-89 he was selected as captain of Major Warton's privately-organised tour to South Africa. The two senior matches — at Port Elizabeth and Cape Town — were retrospectively designated as Tests. At Port Elizabeth on 12-13 March 1889 he led England to an eight-wicket win, taking 5 for 19 in the first South African innings and 2 for 42 in the second. He missed the Cape Town Test through illness, with Monty Bowden taking over the captaincy.

This was Smith's only Test. He thus holds the unique distinction of being a one-Test England player who captained the side in that one game. He toured Australia in 1887-88 with Vernon's XI but did not play a Test there; for England in South Africa, the captaincy and the only cap arrived in the same week.

After cricket Smith moved into theatre, then into Hollywood — but those later chapters belong elsewhere. As a cricketer, he is remembered for the run-up, the curving approach to the wicket, and his single Test as England captain in 1889.

“It is rather startling when he suddenly appears at the bowling crease.”

Smith retired from first-class cricket in the mid-1890s and turned to acting. He played in repertory in the West End, moved to America, and by the 1930s was a fixture in Hollywood films. He founded the Hollywood Cricket Club. But his statistical record as a Test cricketer is fixed at the one match in March 1889.