caused his advance. In this style he took nine for 41 in a match against Worcestershire, six for 57 against Nottinghamshire and five for 39 versus Leicestershire. 1937, with Bowes absent for half the year, saw Smailes worked harder than ever before. Though he did not accomplish anything so good as in 1936 with the ball, he was always steady whatever style he was bowling, and as a batsman he hit his maiden century against Warwickshire early in the season. Smailes said, in later life, that he considered scoring that century as his greatest day in cricket. 1938 saw Smailes remarkably effective at Sheffield, but he did little as a bowler away from Yorkshire with Bowes, Verity and Ellis Robinson all beating him in the averages. Nonetheless, ten wickets for 137 in what would, but for rain, have been the first triumph of a county side over an Australian touring team since 1912, saw Smailes seriously considered for an England place. He was chosen for the Old Trafford Test in 1938, but the game was washed out without a ball being bowled. 1939, despite an amazing performance of 14 for 58 against Derbyshire, including ten wickets for 47 after he helped dismiss that county for 20 in the first innings, was wiped out by a major injury that allowed Smailes almost no cricket in the second half of the season. His ten wicket haul made him only the third Yorkshireman to take all ten wickets in a first-class innings, the others being Alonzo Drake and Hedley Verity (twice). At the start of hostilities, Smailes joined the 124th Battery Light Anti Aircraft Royal Artillery, as acting Sergeant Major. By 1942, he was promoted to Captain, and served in North Africa fighting Rommel's Afrika Korps, and later in the invasions of Sicily and Italy. It was there that he learned of the death of his friend, Hedley Verity. He went to the cemetery in Caserta were Verity was buried and, along with another Yorkshire-born county cricketer, Phil King, erected a simple cross on Verity's grave. The conflict aggravated Smaile's varicose vein condition, and every day thereafter he had to have his legs bandaged. Nevertheless, with the War having decimated England's ranks, Smailes, after just six first-class matches and an appearance in the Test Trial, finally received selection for a Test match against India at Lord's in 1946. Despite not faring badly in