Welcome to the Ask Steven Archive, a blog intended to complement the Ask Steven column on ESPN Cricinfo by collating the questions which have been asked and answered (by Steven and others) on Ask Steven's Facebook page. Please note that this blog is entirely unofficial and is not endorsed by Steven Lynch or ESPN Cricinfo.

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Sunday 25 January 2015

Captains sharing a surname

Steve Smith is the second Test captain of that surname in recent memory, after Graeme Smith. How many other captains named Smith have there been, and is Smith the most common surname for a Test captain? - Tatenda Mushangwe

There have been a total of five Test captains with the surname Smith: before Graeme and Steve, there were Aubrey Smith (who captained England in his only Test, against South Africa in 1889, before going on to a rather lengthier career as a Hollywood actor), Mike Smith (25 matches as captain of England in the 1960s) and Ian Smith (who was New Zealand's regular wicket-keeper in the 1980s and early 90s, and captained them once). It is indeed the most common surname among Test captains, the others to have produced more than one being:

FOUR:

Khan - Majid, Imran, Moin, Younis (all Pakistan)
Taylor - Herbie (South Africa), Mark (Australia), Ross (New Zealand), Brendan (Zimbabwe)

THREE:

Ahmed - Ghulam (India), Imtiaz (Pakistan), Saeed (Pakistan)

TWO:

Brown - Bill (Australia), Freddie (England)
Carr - Arthur, Donald (both England)
Chappell - Ian, Greg (both Australia)
Cowdrey - Colin, Chris (both England)
Crowe - Jeff, Martin (both New Zealand)
de Silva - Somachandra, Aravinda (both Sri Lanka)
Gilligan - Arthur, Harold (both England)
Goddard - John (West Indies), Trevor (South Africa)
Grant - Jackie, Rolph (both West Indies)
Gregory - Dave, Syd (both Australia)
Mann - Frank, George (both England)
Pataudi - Nawab senior and junior (both India)
Richards - Alfred (South Africa), Viv (West Indies)
Richardson - Vic (Australia), Richie (West Indies)
Note: the Chappells, Crowes, Gilligans and Grants were brothers; the Cowdreys, Manns and Pataudis were father and son; Majid and Imran Khan were cousins; Dave and Syd Gregory were uncle and nephew. All the other namesakes were unrelated.

Michael Jones/Arnold D'Souza
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