Biography

A right-hand batsman and a wicketkeeper, Daniel Smith first appeared for New South Wales in 2005 against Western Australia. A product of the 2001 Australian Cricket Academy batch, Smith was part of his state and national Under 19 teams.

“Smithy” owes much of his success behind the stumps as well as ahead of them to Brad Haddin. It was the latter's call-up to the national squad that helped the former find his feet in first-class cricket. Smith impressed in his debut season, and went on to play a full season in 2008-09. He collected 33 dismissals, scored a gritty 96 off 102 balls against South Australia and registered 407 runs at an average of 31.30. Despite being a regular fixture in the one-day and T20 squads, Smith failed to make any significant contribution there. Further, he struggled behind the stumps and by the end of 2009-10, was eventually replaced by Peter Neville.