News is coming through of the death of M.J.K. Smith, a giant of Warwickshire cricket. He was my cricketing hero as I grew up.

MJK and Dennis - a formidable pair at Warwickshire. Sad news.

Sad news but, as they say, he did "have a good innings".
He was captain of Warwickshire when I first started watching and for a good few years later. He scored masses of county runs and pretty much invented the forward short leg position. I even saw him bowl!
An international in both cricket and rugby, I don't think there's been one since.
Undoubtedly one for the Warwickshire Pantheon.

This is sad news. As UrsaMinor says, he did have a good innings and I was surprised just how long it was, never realised he was playing as early as the late 1950s. My best memory, inevitably given I am in my 40s, was when I was at a county game when was a spotty and awkward student and he was roaming around the members stands as President or CEO or other exalted position. He stopped for a decent enough chat and the "inclusive feel" the Guardian mentions about his leadership style was very evident in the way he listened for my opinions, limited that they were. Go well, MJK.

My headmaster at junior school did 'Teacher Training' with him, not sure exactly when. He was an amiable figure and the last time I saw him was when we waited for coaches just after the 2016 Royal London Cup Final. I had to tell one of the females who was waiting, who he was.

Guardian obituary here:
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/may/18/mjk-smith-obituary

Great bloke by all accounts.

He was an amazing captain of both Warwickshire and England. Also, he was an incredible short leg fielder who stood (no helmets in those days) amazingly close to the bat and took some stunning catches.
Yes, he was also a really nice guy. I played a couple of matches against him and one match with him and he was a total gentleman. One of my best moments in cricket is when I played in a match against Moreton-in-Marsh and batted with MJK. He was totally out of practice and scratched around for very few runs and got out before I did. My wish was that we could have added (say)120 with MJK making 100 of them and me scraping the rest. But it wasn't to be.