A top-order batsman with aggressive instincts who has been with Leicestershire from the age of 15, Greg Smith's development accelerated sharply in 2008. By the end of that season, he had made his first-class and senior one-day debuts and marked his first appearance for England Under-19s by scoring 157 in the opening Under-19 Test against New Zealand in Taunton and following up with an unbeaten 150 in the second Test. His club side, Kibworth, also won that year's Cockspur Cup.

He made further appearances for Leicestershire in 2009 and 2010 while studying at Durham University, making noteworthy strides in 2010 when he made a century for Durham MCCU against Nottinghamshire in April and back-to-back hundreds for Leicestershire against Gloucestershire and Northamptonshire in September, which enabled him to top the first-class national batting averages with 652 runs at 93.14.

Batting at No 3, he played a full season for Leicestershire in 2011 and batted impressively again at times, scoring his third Championship century against Middlesex in the final game. He found 2012 more challenging but finished strongly with a century in the Second XI Final and 77 against Gloucestershire in the last Championship fixture.

ESPNcricinfo - February 2013