Robin Smith , the former England batter who went toe-to-toe with some of the greatest fast bowlers of the 1980s and 90s, has died at his home in Australia at the age of 62.

Smith played 62 Tests between 1988 and 1996, scoring 4,236 runs at 43.67 with nine centuries, including three against West Indies - the team that so often brought out his pugnacious best.

Smith's signature shot was a front-foot square cut that was, by many estimations, one of the fiercest strokes in the world game, and it enabled him to thrive in cricket's adrenalin-fuelled fast lane, not least on England's memorable tour of the Caribbean in 1990, when Smith was instrumental in England's victory in the first Test in Jamaica, and again on home soil in consecutive 2-2 drawn series against West Indies in 1991 and 1995.

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