Will Smith is an opening batsman who has previously captained Durham UCCE and British Universities. He scored 156 for Durham UCCE against a full strength Somerset attack in 2005 and forced his way into Nottinghamshire's Twenty20 side that summer. Promising performances earned him a place in the final three games of Nottinghamshire's County Championship winning campaign. He underwent double hernia and shoulder operations in the 2005-06 close season but returned strong and in 2006 scored his maiden Championship hundred against Middlesex.

There were more than a few raised eyebrows when he left Trent Bridge at the end of 2006 but said he wanted to return to the North East. Smith took over the captaincy at Durham from Dale Benkenstein at the end of the county's 2008 Championship-winning season and managed to guide the team to their second title in a row the following summer. But after the 2010 campaign got off to a poor start, and Smith's own form suffered, he handed over the reins to wicketkeeper Phil Mustard and did not appear in the Championship side for the remainder of the season.

He contemplated retirement but an injury to opener Mark Stoneman in the first match of the 2011 season created a vacancy and Smith returned to form with a century against Warwickshire at Edgbaston in late May, his first for more than 18 months. With two more hundreds, Smith's form over the season was on a par with 2008 and he finished close to 1,000 first-class runs for the first time. He began 2012 well but after a century against Somerset in May his form fell away again and cost him his place towards the end of the season.
ESPNcricinfo staff