Jamie Smith

Jamie Smith is yet another wicketkeeper-batter in the English system, though one predicted to assume the gloves for the national team once the incumbent thirty-somethings move on. That as much was clear in the 2022/23 winter when, aged 22, he struck the fastest hundred by a Lions batter in a four-day match, with a 71-ball effort against Sri Lanka in Galle.

It was his second winter as part of the Lions programme. He was pencilled in as a member of this cohort early the previous summer after an unbeaten 234 against Gloucestershire in his third red ball innings of the summer. Though he was unable to build on that score, managing just 145 in his other 10 innings in Surrey's title-winning 2022, he had already reinforced the belief within the ECB that he has the talent to become a star behind and in front of the stumps.

Another cab off the Whitgift School ranks, Smith is a tall keeper whose promise was apparent from a young age. He made his Surrey debut a week before his 18th birthday as an availability crisis forced him into action in a T20 against Middlesex at Lord's.

Further evidence of his immense talent came in England colours at the start of 2019. He made 90 and 104 in an Under-19 Test in Chattogram, and then cruised his way to 127 in his first first-class innings, against an MCC attack including Stuart Broad and Dom Bess in the Champion County fixture in Abu Dhabi. That was enough to earn him a prolonged run in the first team during a difficult season for Surrey, and he ended the Championship season batting as high as No. 3 such were their struggles. Runs proved harder to come by for Smith, but he acquitted himself well enough to suggest that there will be plenty more opportunities.

Smith first represented Surrey at Under-9 level, and played in every age-group team from that point on. His talent was so evident that he was often promoted several steps up, even playing alongside Tom Curran - five years his senior - in the U-17s weeks after his 12th birthday.

ESPNcricinfo staff