Don Smith gave up the Captaincy of Romsey Cricket Club, against the wishes of the players, in 1978 although he continued to play for the club for a number of years in the Hampshire League. It was really a twist of fate that permitted his record in Romsey cricket to be so accumulated for, while being educated at Peter Symonds Grammar School, where his contemporaries will remember him as Captain of football, rugby and cricket as well as Senior Prefect, Don Smith was aiming for a commision in the Royal Navy and, had he been successful, no doubt Romsey would have seen a lot less of him. The outbreak of the Second World War, however, brought a change in his plans when, with his formal education completed, he found the Army more ready to accept his services than were the Senior Service and he was Commissioned in Royal Artillery.

As an all round sportsman just as keen on both football codes, Don Smith commenced his senior cricket with Romsey at the age of 16 years and by 18 years of age had progressed into representative in The Young Amatuers of Hampshire XI. Service in the Army provided a dramatic change - in the Aldershot Command he was a regular selection for any Army XI captained by Alf Gover which, among other talented county cricketers, included Denis Compton. A posting to Ceylon in 1942, opened up sporting opportunities which Don Smith exploited to the full. Because of the climate cricket, soccer and rugby were played simultaneously and he represented the Combined Services at the first, his Battalion at the second and the Army at the third. He played cricket on the famous Brabourne Stadium as well as on the Ceylon International Ground which he regards as one of the most delightful he has seen and where he remembers very well the century he scored for the Combined Services against a Ceylon Select XI. His sojourn in Ceylon came to an end when he volunteered for service with the 'Chindits' but soon the 14th Army war making such elegant progress in Burma that Chindits operations ceased. Don Smith instead became a paratrooper and underwent training in preparation for an assault to recapture the Andaman Islands.

The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima brought an end to the proposed Andaman Islands project and, Don Smith was posted to the school of infantry at Warmister, pending his demobilisation. It was while a Warminster that he enjoyed an innings of 120 he made against the famous I Zingari XI when the situation was looking decidedly gloomy for the school. He now got involved with Hampshire League football and, although "caps" were not awarded, he was selected for the League representative XI as an inside forward. While he played football at every level in the Hampshire League and his cricket took him to a final trial with the County with appearances for the County Second and the Club and Ground XI's, at this time Don Smith was thinking more of a post war civilian career and in 1949 with the experience of two years untrained school teaching behind him, he subsequently qualified under an emergency teacher training scheme. He went on to teach Geography at Romsey School.

Apart from his membership of Romsey Cricket Club, Don Smith also played for the Stoats and Southampton and District Club Cricket Association, but he is taciturn about his cricket ability and will only talk in generalities. For instance, he is the best of all club cricket all-rounders - the wicketkeeper batsman. As an opener he scores his 1,000 runs per season in weekend club cricket and his career is liberally sprinkled with hundreds but he recalls five specific details of his own achievements. He is more likely to recount anecdotes about situations he was forced into as the captain as, for example, when Romsey played a Cowes, Isle of Wight club side because they had to meet a ferry after the match in order to return home. Don was concious the need for a prompt start and was upset when some of his players were late. Having won the toss he was forced to bat first on a particularly bad pitch. Commencing at 2.30 his side had made only 42 for 5 when tea was taken at 5 O'clock, to the annoyance of the opposing captain who foresaw a belated declaration ruining the match. In fact, Don declared at the tea time score and was as surprised as his opponent when the Cowes side for all out for only 37. The reverse of this situation was so novel that it was reported in the National Press when Romsey played Alton. Romsey had aquired a new fast bowler who with the Alton score at One took the first six wickets for 0 runs. The novelty was that despite the auspicious start, Romsey lost the match!

As far as Hampshire League cricket is concerned it would be easy to dismiss the observation as reflecting his years but coming from a Club Captain of such experience it is worth noting that, in his view, league cricket has taken some of the subtlety from the game. He says with some conviction that there is much more to a game of cricket that two sides batting in turn and the issue being settled solely by the number of runs scored by each.

Apart from an above average sportsman, Don Smith is also an organisor. He stood on the committee of the Romsey Cricket Club for as long as he has been their captain; he has, in turn, been Chairman, Manager, Secretary and Captain of Romsey Football Club; for 18 years he was Youth Club leader for the Romsonians Club which supported the local education authority for 14/20 year olds. The clubs activities were diverse and included, for over 10 years, the New Forest Walk which was organised by Don for about 150 Youth participants to raise money for local charities as well as to help fund the club. Old peoples' Charities, Romsey Hospital and Guide Dogs for the Blind are some of the benificaries of the £6000 that was raised.

Having to take to spectagles - particularly as bi-focal lenses are necessary - introduced a new hazard to batting and Don has perforce dropped down the order.