Mike Smith, the left-armer who served the club so ably for 14 summers, sincerely hopes his erstwhile new-ball partner Jon Lewis does not go the same way Smith did after making a much-longed-for Test debut.

�..Nobody deserves to play for England as much as Jon,�.� says Smith, who won a solitary cap against Australia in 1997 and might have had more had Graham Thorpe not dropped a simple catch in the slips when Matthew Elliott had barely begun his match-winning 199. �..Before the first Test against Sri Lanka he�..d taken more wickets this season than Flintoff, Hoggard and Plunkett put together.�.�

Smith also contends that Lewis, who grabbed four wickets in the Twenty20 win over Australia, was not given enough credit for his part in the Ashes triumph. �..Jon was the catalyst, because it was that victory which gave England the belief they could beat the Australians. He had one bad game [in the NatWest Series], but who hasn�..t against Australia?

�..There�..s very little to choose between Jon and Matthew Hoggard. Jon bowls at the same pace, bats better and fields better, so there�..s no reason why he can�..t [achieve] the same.�.�
Rob Steen, The Wisden Cricketer