Greg Smith

Greg Smith began a new chapter of his career when, in common with several of his team mates, he left Leicestershire at the end of 2014, disheartened by two Championship seasons in Division Two without a win. Smith's choice was Nottinghamshire - a route trod by others before him, notably Stuart Broad, James Taylor and Harry Gurney - and his new coach, Mick Newell, spoke of his "significant potential".

Smith had advertised that potential against Notts midway through his final season at Leicestershire, striking 102 from 54 balls against them in a NatWest T20 Blast game in a losing cause at Grace Road. His 52-ball hundred was Leicestershire's fastest in T20. His progress, at 25, was shown by 1,448 runs in all competitions. His career first-class average, though, remained comfortably the wrong side of 30.

That potential reared up only once in his first season at Nottinghamshire. Surrey looked set for an overwhelming win at The Oval in the semi-final of the Royal London One-Day Cup only for Smith's 124 to carry them within four runs. It was a remarkable show in his first match in the competition and in a season where his top score had been 27 and he had briefly been loaned back to his former county.

He retired midway through 2017 in a rush of Trent Bridge departures that also included fellow batsmen Brendon Taylor and Michael Lumb in a matter of weeks; Notts maintained impetus all the same as they won two limited-overs trophies and were promoted after a single season in Division Two of the Championship.

A top-order batsman with aggressive instincts who has been with Leicestershire from the age of 15, 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.

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.

His career-best 135 not out against Somerset in YB40 in a record-breaking opening stand of 235 with Josh Cobb - both players hitting centuries - was one of the high points of Leicestershire's 2013 season. He was their leading scorer in T20 cricket, averaging nearly 40 and producing an impressive strike rate of 130.98.

ESPNcricinfo staff