Australia star Smith could have played for England but rejected 'shocking' offer
Steve Smith is one of Australia's greatest-ever batters, having scored over 15,000 international runs across all formats, but he could very easily have ended up playing for Ashes rivals England instead.
Smith's mother, Gillian, is English meaning he has dual citizenship and spent time playing club cricket for Sevenoaks Vine in the Kent league as a teenager. Both Kent and Surrey were interested in him and he played for both of their Second XI sides back when he was considered more of a leg-spinner who could bat.
Paul Farbrace, who later worked as England's assistant coach, was Kent's academy boss at the time and picked Smith for two Second XI matches. "He got runs, fielded brilliantly, took an unbelievable diving catch at backward point and bowled some decent leg-spin,' Farbrace told the Daily Mail in 2019.
"He later played another game for me but between the first and second I told him that I would like to offer him a contract. With his mum being English there were no problems with qualifications but he told me to speak to his dad Peter. His dad said: 'No, he's going to play for Australia'."
Surrey also gave Smith an opportunity after receiving a recommendation from former player Nadeem Shahid, with the future Australian captain impressing in two Second XI matches for the county. "It was obvious Steve was pretty talented but Australia's greatest run scorer of the age? Back then he was being talked about maybe as the next Shane Warne, who had only retired the previous winter," said former England bowler Stuart Meaker, who played alongside Smith for Surrey's Second XI.
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"We had Ian Salisbury as our number one leg-spinner. Steve bowled a bit and came in down the order. He was certainly talented but it would have been hard to imagine quite how far he kicked on. One of the things that stood out about him is that I've never seen anyone hit the ball as hard.
"When he was playing for Eastern Suburbs in Sydney grade cricket, he would have nets at the SCG with his dad and you wanted to watch it. Surrey offered him a pretty decent contract and because he had an English family he could have played here but New South Wales wanted him back. And he's Australian, after all."
Smith's mother, Gillian, is English meaning he has dual citizenship and he was offered contracts by both Kent and Surrey while playing club cricket in England in 2007 (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)Former Surrey batter Arun Harinath, who also played with Smith, added: "He was regarded as a leggie who batted when he came to us and probably batted a bit further down the order than he'd have liked but we had a pretty strong side. As a batsman, he was probably a bit more classical back then – he clearly had a great work ethic.
"He was a good lad to be around and really loved his cricket. He had great coordination and it was clear that being a professional cricketer was something he was going to do. Fortunately for him, he took the option of playing for New South Wales and it worked out for him."
Surrey coach Alan Butcher offered Smith a highly lucrative three-year contract to join the club and he admitted in his 2017 autobiography 'The Journey' that he was left shocked by the offer, but never "seriously entertained" the prospect of pursuing a county career and potentially going on to play for England. "For many 17 or 18-year-olds when they finish school, the major decision is whether to go on to higher education or enter the world of work," he wrote.
"For me, things were slightly different. I had to decide whether I wanted to press on with ambition to play for New South Wales and, ultimately, Australia or throw in my lot with English county side Surrey and pursue the possibility of playing international cricket for England.
Smith rejected the offers and went on to make his debut for Australia three years later in 2010 (Mark Nolan/Getty Images)"The Surrey club was aware of my status as a British passport holder and so I received a call from Alan Butcher, the former England opening batsman and father of fellow England international Mark Butcher, with the offer of the three-year deal. It was a lot of money to potentially throw at an 18-year-old and I'd never conceived of such a large amount in my life.
"If it had been about money then it would have been no contest. Surrey were offering me a three-year deal worth around £30,000 per year while my first rookie contract with Cricket NSW netted me around AUD$12,000. But I had my heart set on playing state and international cricket in Australia – that was where I'd grown up and where I'd learnt my cricket – so although the chance to play in and possibly for, England was an option, it wasn't one I seriously entertained.
"Once the initial shock passed it wasn't a tough decision to turn it down. I discussed it with Tony Ward and he summed it up pretty well from my perspective. He said I was Australian, I'd grown up in Australia and I wanted to play for Australia and so, on that basis, I'd be silly to risk all that by taking up Surrey's offer. He was right and so I knocked it back, a decision I've not regretted for a moment."
Reflecting on the decision during this year's Ashes series, where Smith played his 100th Test for Australia, he told BBC Sport: "Mum has still got an English accent. The roots are there, but my allegiance is to Australia. For me it was always Australia. That was my home and where I wanted to play. Fortunately I got offered a rookie contract at New South Wales. So many of my heroes were playing there at the time, so it wasn't a difficult decision."
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