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Will Smead, one of the most promising cricketers in English cricket, signed a white-ball-only contract with Somerset County team, effectively quitting first class cricket. Although Smeed has not played first-class cricket yet, he came into the limelight after scoring for a century for Somerset 2nd XI at the age of 16, in a red ball match.
While he made eye-catching displays for Somerset at the T20 Blast, earlier in 2022, the 21-year-old became The Hundred’s first-ever player to score a century.
“I feel my game is more suited to white ball cricket,” Smid said in a statement. “After a great deal of thorough and thoughtful discussions, I feel I just need to focus my attention on the limited formats in order to become the best cricketer I can be.”
“I can assure people that this [is] Not a decision I made lightly, and I’ve talked to a lot of people about it. I want to be the best player I can be, and to do that I think that has to be my focus.”
Smeed has a contract with MI Emirates, a team at ILT20 in the UAE owned by Reliance which also owns the IPL franchise in Mumbai Indians. Smed is expected to put his name up at the IPL auction that will be held in December.
Smed says he did not live up to expectations in red ball cricket.
“I know how much our members love red ball cricket, but unfortunately I didn’t do what I wanted in the longer form of the game. The easy choice was to keep playing red ball cricket and try to fit everything and level up across all the forms, but I want to try To be the best I can be.”
“To achieve that, I feel like I need to focus on excelling in one form. I am definitely not saying I will never play red ball cricket again. I just feel it is the right decision for me and Somerset at the moment.”
Somerset cricket director Andy Herey backed Smeed’s decision and predicted a spike in such contracts in the future.
“As a club we will continue to do everything in our power to ensure our players live up to their aspirations and therefore we support Will in this decision. White ball only contracts are not new to the game and they are not new to Somerset. The game is evolving all the time and I feel we will see more contracts emerge from this genre all over the world.
He continued: “Will is an exceptional talent and has the potential to have an incredibly successful career. At this point, he is not always drawing a line under the red ball’s future, and this is currently the best path forward for both Will and the club.”
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