![\"England](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/4b3e1145d0209f5590fae22d357beb626f52dbd9.jpg\")
Camera IconEngland Cricketer Robin Smith dies aged 62. Credit: Getty Images\/Hulton Archive<\/p>\nEnglish cricket is in mourning after the sudden loss of former batsman Robin Smith in Perth on Monday.<\/p>\n
Smith, who has been living in Western Australia, died aged 62 just over a week after he was invited by England great Andrew Flintoff to speak to the English Lions during their time in the state for the Ashes.<\/p>\n
The South African-born cricketer played 62 Tests for England before finishing his international career in 1996.<\/p>\n
In a statement released on Tuesday morning, his family wrote: \u201cIt is with the deepest and most profound sense of sadness and loss that we must announce the passing of Robin Arnold Smith, beloved father of Harrison and Margaux and cherished brother of Christopher.<\/p>\n
\u201cRobin died unexpectedly at his South Perth apartment on Monday 1st December. The cause of his death is at present unknown.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince his retirement from the game in 2004 his battles with alcohol and mental health have been well documented but these should not form the basis of speculation about the cause of death which will be determined at postmortem investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith has previously shared his battles with mental health and alcohol abuse.<\/p>\n
The prolific run scorer also has close ties to WA Premier Cricket after forging a remarkable premier cricket career with South Perth after debuting in 1987.<\/p>\n
Camera IconEngland Cricketer Robin Smith dies aged 62. Credit: Getty Images\/Hulton Archive<\/p>\n
He was South Perth\u2019s club champion in 1987\/88 and won the A Grade Batting in the same season.<\/p>\n
He also won South Perth\u2019s Charlie Bull Trophy in 1987\/88 for Best Performed Player Across All WACA Senior Grades and achieved a fielding record 22 catches in season 1987\/88.<\/p>\n
Smith was named in South Perth\u2019s 75th Anniversary \u201cAll Stars\u201d Team announced in 2004\/05.<\/p>\n
Kevan James, a former Hampshire team-mate of Smith, addressed the news on BBC Radio Solent, where he works as a sports presenter.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh gosh, it\u2019s been horrible, unfortunately. It was happening as I was reading out some of the sports news. He was, at the time, in the Eighties and Nineties, England\u2019s best batter. He averaged 43 in Test matches,\u201d James said on air.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe averaged over 40 when he was dropped after the mid-Nineties Test series in South Africa, which is quite incredible now, isn\u2019t it, to think a batter would be dropped averaging that many. In one-day internationals, he averaged 39.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a super player, particularly of fast bowling in an era where the West Indies had all these quick bowlers. You know, he was one of the few England batters that stood up to them and basically gave them as good as he got!\u201d<\/p>\n
Chairman of Hampshire County Cricket Club Rod Bransgrove labelled Smith, affectionately known as \u2018the judge\u2019, one of the greatest ever to represent the county.<\/p>\n
\u201cRobin Smith is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of all time Hampshire Cricket heroes. He was a batsman of awesome power and control, and amongst the most courageous players this club has ever seen – especially against bowling of real pace,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut more than all of that, Robin embodied the spirit of Hampshire. He loved playing for his county and rushed back from many of his 62 Test Matches and 71 ODIs to join his county team to play Championship or List \u2018A\u2019 fixtures with relish. His averages, of 44 in Test Matches and 39 in ODIs, suggest that this enthusiasm for County Cricket did not affect performances for his country and demonstrated a club commitment rarely seen these days.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than anything, The Judge connected with everyone he came into contact with. He was one of the most popular players ever to play the game we all love, and he will be hugely missed by players, members, staff and supporters – not only in Hampshire, but throughout the country and beyond.<\/p>\n
\u201cFinally, Robin was one of my closest personal friends. My family and I are all devastated by his loss. At one with so many friends of Hampshire Cricket and cricket generally, we have Harrison, Margaux, Kippy, Julie and Karen uppermost in our thoughts at this tragic time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"English cricket is in mourning after the sudden loss of former batsman Robin Smith in Perth on Monday.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,588,85],"class_list":["post-322959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}