{{short description|South African cricketer (1940–2024)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox cricketer | name = Ray Watson-Smith | image = | country = South Africa | fullname = Raymond Watson-Smith | birth_date = {{Birth date|1940|2|20|df=yes}} | birth_place = Mowbray, Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa | death_date = {{Death date and age|2024|3|27|1940|2|20|df=yes}} | death_place = | heightft = | heightinch = | heightm = | batting = Right-handed | bowling = Right-arm medium-pace | role = | club1 = Border | year1 = 1969–70 | columns = 2 | column1 = FC | matches1 = 5 | runs1 = 444 | bat avg1 = 88.80 | 100s/50s1 = 2/1 | top score1 = 183* | deliveries1 = 12 | wickets1 = 0 | bowl avg1 = – | fivefor1 = – | tenfor1 = – | best bowling1 = – | catches/stumpings1 = 4/– | column2 = List A | matches2 = 1 | runs2 = 47 | bat avg2 = 47.00 | 100s/50s2 = 0/0 | top score2 = 47 | deliveries2 = 0 | wickets2 = – | bowl avg2 = – | fivefor2 = – | tenfor2 = – | best bowling2 = – | catches/stumpings2 = 3/– | date = 9 July 2016 | source = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/14/14843/14843.html CricketArchive }} '''Raymond Watson-Smith''' (20 February 1940 – 27 March 2024) was a South African cricketer. Playing for Border in 1969–70, he scored a not-out century in each of his first two first-class matches, and reached 310 runs before being dismissed.
==Cricket career==
Ray Watson-Smith made his first-class debut for Border against Orange Free State in November 1969 in the B Section of the Currie Cup. In a drawn match in Bloemfontein, in which 1258 runs were scored in three days for the loss of only 17 wickets, Watson-Smith, batting at number seven, scored 183 not out, the highest of five centuries in the match.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/30/30566.html| title = Orange Free State v Border 1969–70| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 10 July 2016}}</ref> In the next match, against Griqualand West in East London two weeks later, he batted at number six and made 125 not out in 145 minutes. Border won by an innings.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/30/30579.html| title = Border v Griqualand West 1969–70| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 10 July 2016}}</ref> He was finally dismissed for the first time in the next match against Natal B, when he made 2 and 19, and Border lost by an innings.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/30/30610.html| title = Natal B v Border 1969–70| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 10 July 2016}}</ref> In the fourth and last match of the Currie Cup season he made 25 and 53 not out in a draw with North Eastern Transvaal.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/30/30618.html | title = Border v North Eastern Transvaal 1969–70| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 10 July 2016}}</ref>
He finished the Currie Cup season at the top of the competition's batting averages, with 407 runs at an average of 135.66.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/2/Currie_Cup_1969-70/Batting_by_Average.html| title = Batting and fielding in Currie Cup 1969–70| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 10 July 2016}}</ref> He then played for Border against the Australians, scoring 28 and 9.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/30/30682.html| title = Border v Australians 1969–70| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 10 July 2016}}</ref> At the end of the season he played one match in South Africa's first List A cricket tournament, top-scoring with 47 in a losing Border team.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/30/30741.html| title = RG Pollock's XI v GA Minkley's XI 1969–70| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 10 July 2016}}</ref>
His captain at Border, Gordon Minkley, said Watson-Smith was a talented player but "He hit a lot of balls in the air and I think the word quickly got around among the other teams." Watson-Smith moved away from Border after the 1969–70 season and played no further first-class cricket.<ref>Colin Bryden, ''All-Rounder: The Buster Farrer Story'', Aloe Publishing, Kidd's Beach, 2013, pp. 103–104.</ref>
Watson-Smith's 310 career runs before being dismissed remained a world record until 2015, when the Victorian batsman Travis Dean made 347 runs before being dismissed. Dean was dismissed in his second first-class match.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Sheffield Shield: Victoria captain Matthew Wade and WA all-rounder Hilton Cartwright on opening day|journal=Daily Telegraph|date=14 November 2015|url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/cricket/sheffield-shield-victoria-captain-matthew-wade-and-wa-allrounder-hilton-cartwright-on-opening-day/news-story/1f4746ba266332f03a82bbdd465e3639|accessdate=10 July 2016}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{cricketarchive|id=14843}} *{{cricinfo|id=47940}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson-Smith, Ray}} Category:1940 births Category:2024 deaths Category:Cricketers from Cape Town Category:South African cricketers Category:Border cricketers