Ed Smith

Ed Smith was educated at Cambridge University where he took a double first in history. Aged 18, he became the youngest ever Cambridge undergraduate to score a century on his first class debut. He was a professional cricketer for 13 years, at Kent and then at Middlesex, where he was captain in 2007 and 2008. He played three Test matches for England and retired from cricket after breaking his ankle in 2008. He is now a columnist and features writer for The Times and his column Left Field appears weekly in the New Statesman. He is a member of the BBC’s Test Match Special team and appears regularly on Radio 4's Today programme. Ed is the author of four books: Playing Hard Ball, a comparison of cricket and baseball; On and Off the Field, a diary of the year he played for England; What Sport Tells Us About Life andd Luck: What It Means and Why It Matters.