Jamie Smith: No-brainer to allow player movement between The Hundred and Royal London Cup

The Surrey wicketkeeper-batter went two months without playing a competitive game between his selection as a wildcard for London Spirit and the resumption of the County Championship in September

Surrey wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith has called for flexibility between The Hundred and the Royal London Cup after going almost two months without playing a professional match during the summer.

Smith was snapped up by London Spirit as their wildcard pick ahead of the second edition of the tournament but didn't feature once, with Adam Rossington and Josh Inglis both ahead of the 22-year-old as wicketkeeping options in Trevor Bayliss' squad.

It meant he didn't play between winning a County Championship game at Yorkshire on July 14 and beginning a second-team match for Surrey on September 5.

Speaking to The Cricketer for a wider interview ahead of his departure for an England Lions training camp, Smith admitted that the sequence of events "did end up being to the detriment of my game", even if he took plenty from "mixing with the best players in the county game and seasoned international players" in a squad captained by Eoin Morgan.

He said: "I definitely feel that players should be able to move between The Hundred and the Royal London Cup. It doesn't have to be for the whole comp, just a game here or there.

"I didn't play at all for more than six weeks until I came back into the Championship side at Northampton. That really can't happen in professional cricket.

"It's hard enough week in, week out to stay on top of your game, but to go six weeks without one, that just shouldn't be happening to any player. So, it's a no-brainer that they change that, as far as I'm concerned."

^{Smith was restricted to a watching brief with London Spirit (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)}

In 2021, Smith declined the option of a Hundred draft pick, choosing instead to play 50-over cricket for Surrey, a move that ultimately resulted in the captaincy for the competition once Hashim Amla went down injured.

Until now, the regulations haven't allowed for players involved in The Hundred to be released to their counties while the tournament was ongoing, and Smith isn't alone in calling for movement between the two.

During the Royal London Cup, Warwickshire head coach Mark Robinson made the same point to The Cricketer, referencing the experiences of Jacob Bethell and Dan Mousley, two youngsters who played four games between them for Welsh Fire and Birmingham Phoenix respectively.

"We embrace The Hundred," said Robinson, "but we just have to get that balance right all the time in terms of protecting the development of our best young players and not just having them carrying drinks, going through what could be a four or five-week period without getting a game of cricket at a time when they need to be playing.

"They should be playing. They need to be playing cricket. Rules are rules, but everybody at the end of a season has a chance to address what's worked in a season and what rules need changing.

"That's not taking away from the experience they're getting in The Hundred, but I think as a game we have to look after the development of our young players and see if we can allow them to have the best of both worlds."

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